Librarians for Human Rights

New Location for this Website

2011-06-13T12:59:00.002-06:00

This blog has moved to here.

Freedom of Connection: Freedom of Expression

2011-05-25T04:22:00.002-06:00

As a follow up to the 185th session of UNESCO's Executive Board, which called upon the Organization to reflect on the Internet, UNESCO launches its new publication, Freedom of Connection: Freedom of Expression: The Changing Legal and Regulatory Ecology Shaping the Internet. The launching event will take place at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France, on 30 May 2011.
Through this book, UNESCO aims to inform Member States about its strategy of promoting freedom of expression on the Internet. The http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifpublication explores the complex situation of freedom of expression on the Internet and provides a new perspective on the social and political dynamics behind the threats to expression. It develops a conceptual framework of ecology of freedom of expression for discussing the broad context of policy and practice. Through its pioneering exploration of the various legal and policy mechanisms that are crucial for the free flow of information, the book provides guidance for policy makers and other relevant users on the creation of environments conducive to the freedom of expression.

Download here.

Use of ICTs and Social Media for Human Rights Work

2011-05-23T03:56:00.001-06:00

The Human Rights Education Associates (HREA) will be offering an e-learning course Use of ICTs and Social Media for Human Rights Work from 15 June-30 August 2011. This e-learning course is intended for staff members of human rights and social justice NGOs and inter-governmental organisations who are responsible for information and communication (i.e. information officers, web editors, communication specialists) within their organisation.

Website Archiving: Human Rights Example at Columbia

2011-05-15T13:37:00.001-06:00

Columbia has therefore bitten off a piece small enough to chew: 491 websites dedicated to the documentation of human rights efforts abroad. Human rights is a topic area that stands to benefit from website archiving, since many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that document human rights abuses in other countries publish reports on the Web that never make it into print, and these sites are more liable than others that publish original reports to vanish, taking their contributions to the historical record with them, say the Columbia archivists.

The Internet Archive is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that was founded to build an Internet library. Its purposes include offering permanent access for researchers, historians, scholars, people with disabilities, and the general public to historical collections that exist in digital format. Founded in 1996 and located in San Francisco, the Archive has been receiving data donations from Alexa Internet and others. In late 1999, the organization started to grow to include more well-rounded collections. Now the Internet Archive includes texts, audio, moving images, and software as well as archived web pages in our collections, and provides specialized services for adaptive reading and information access for the blind and other persons with disabilities.

Conscious UK hip-hop at the British Library

2011-05-02T19:57:00.002-06:00

"While hip-hop should reflect reality, it should also have the capacity to offer solutions and provoke debate as any art form should."

This is music that is mobilising Britain's youth and getting them to think about issues they might not otherwise have done.

Future of Public Libraries in the Twenty-First Century: Human Rights and Human Capabilities

2011-04-09T21:05:00.004-06:00

"The Future of Public Libraries in the Twenty-First Century: Human Rights and Human Capabilities" by
Kathleen de la Peña McCook and Katharine J. Phenix
in
Introduction to Public Librarianship. 2011, Neal-Schuman Publishers.

2010 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

2011-04-08T15:37:00.002-06:00

In the early 1970s the United States formalized its responsibility to speak out on behalf of international human rights standards. In 1976 Congress enacted legislation creating a Coordinator of Human Rights in the Department of State, a position later upgraded to Assistant Secretary. Legislation also requires that U.S. foreign and trade policy take into account countries' human rights and worker rights performance and that country reports be submitted to the Congress on an annual basis.

U.S. Department of State. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.
2010 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

Country Reports on Human Rights- 2010 to be Released on April 7. 2011

2011-04-05T06:07:00.001-06:00

The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices are submitted annually by the U.S. Department of State to the U.S. Congress in

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Michael Posner will release the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2010 on Thursday, April 7 at approximately 10:30 a.m. in the Press Briefing Room of the U.S. Department of State.

The remarks will be open to credentialed members of the media. The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, commonly known as the Human Rights Report, covers the legal status of human rights in more than 190 countries and territories around the world.

Media representatives may attend this event upon presentation of one of the following: (1) A U.S. Government-issued identification card (Department of State, White House, Congress, Department of Defense or Foreign Press Center), (2) a media-issued photo identification card, or (3) a letter from their employer on letterhead verifying their employment as a journalist, accompanied by an official photo identification card (driver's license, passport).

Embargoed copies of the 2010 Human Rights Report will be available online as of 9:30 a.m. EDT, April 7th at: http://paei.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2010/index.htm

The user id is: hrr_2011
The password is: hrr1234

The report will be embargoed until the press briefing.

Geraldine Ferraro; UN Human Rights Commission Ambassador and 1984 U.S. VP Candidate Dies

2011-03-27T08:45:00.003-06:00

Geraldine Ferraro; UN Human Rights Commission Ambassador and 1984 US VP Candidate has died.

Marymount Manhattan College holds her the Honorable Geraldine A. Ferraro papers.

Statement by President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on the Passing of Geraldine Ferraro

"Gerry Ferraro was one of a kind -- tough, brilliant, and never afraid to speak her mind or stand up for what she believed in -- a New York icon and a true American original. She was a champion for women and children and for the idea that there should be no limits on what every American can achieve. The daughter of an Italian immigrant family, she rose to become the first woman ever nominated to the national ticket by a major political party. She paved the way for a generation of female leaders and put the first cracks in America's political glass ceiling. She believed passionately that politics and public service was about making a difference for the people she represented as a congresswoman and Ambassador.

For us, Gerry was above all a friend and companion. From the rough-and-tumble of political campaigns to the important work of international diplomacy, we were honored to have her by our side. She was a tireless voice for human rights and helped lead the American delegation to the landmark Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. Through it all, she was a loyal friend, trusted confidante, and valued colleague.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Gerry's husband John, her children and grandchildren, and their entire family."

Librarians and Human Rights 2010 Jean E. Coleman Library Outreach Lecture

2011-03-22T07:46:00.002-06:00

Librarians and Human Rights
2010 Jean E. Coleman Library Outreach Lecture

By Kathleen de la Peña McCook, Distinguished University Professor
University of South Florida School of Information.

At the OLOS website.

Lawyers specialising in Human Rights are being used to Fight a Case to Save the Island's Libraries.

2011-03-19T20:37:00.001-06:00

Leigh Day and Co say they have been instructed by a number of local residents who are determined to stop the plans.

It was confirmed earlier on March 1 that the Isle of Wight Council will continue to run six of the Island's 11 libraries, but funding for the rest will stop in June, with hopes the community will take them on.

But campaigners say that what is left won't be comprehesive or efficient for all people and claim the council will be in breach of its duty in law, under section 7 of the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964.

It is also claimed that there has been no analysis of the effect of library closures in areas of greatest deprivation, or the travel and parking costs at alternative libraries for those left without a local branch - as well as the impact on women and older and disabled people.

Richard Stein and Rosa Curling in the human rights department at Leigh Day & Co claim the IW Council's failed to properly consider the impact their decision will have on almost 20% of the current users, that this is unlawful and for this reason their clients have asked them to apply to the High Court to challenge the decision.
Read more.

“Human Rights Meet Civil Rights”

2011-01-29T06:17:00.001-07:00

Part recognition event, part educational opportunity, and part celebration, an upcoming art exhibition at ASU’s Fletcher Library at the West campus features the works of local artists, Phoenix South Mountain High School students, youth in detention, HUD housing residents and others.

“Human Rights Meet Civil Rights” will be featured at ASU’s Fletcher Library on the university’s West campus Jan. 22-March 18. The exhibit on the library’s second and third floors is presented by Cultural Arts Coalition, Arizona, and is free to the public.

OUT OF THE STACKS AND INTO THE COMMUNITY:THE LIBRARY’S APPROACH TO NEWCOMERS

2011-01-28T09:09:00.003-07:00

Jan 31 - Feb 4, 2011.

Welcome to the University of Alberta International Week 2011—five full days of events to spark thought and stir discussion on current global issues.
This year’s theme—World on the Move: Unpacking Migration—examines the global challenges that cause the migration of communities, from human rights struggles and climate change, to economic uncertainty and poverty.

Events will also investigate the social, political and environmental challenges that result from the migration of communities.
=============
11:00 AM – 12:30 PM
Tory Lecture Theatre 1
OUT OF THE STACKS AND INTO THE COMMUNITY:THE LIBRARY’S APPROACH
TO NEWCOMERS

Angelica Tarnowski and Kristen Rumohr,Millwoods Branch, Edmonton Public Library; Dr. Toni Samek, School of Library and
Information Studies (SLIS) Community-led philosophy is a recent
phenomenon that has come to the Edmonton Public Library; but what is it, really? Librarians from EPL will discuss their responsibilities in ensuring that the library is a welcoming and relevant place for newcomers and members of the multicultural community, and how they look for ways to connect with newcomer
youth to meet their library needs. Dr. Toni Samek will also deliver a talk about migration and library issues in the United
States, written by Kathleen de la Pena McCook, distinguished university professor at the University of Southern Florida and
immigration rights advocate.

Human Rights Education (HRE) Library

2011-01-21T04:53:00.001-07:00

The Human Rights Education (HRE) Library contains over 3,000 full-text guides, curricula, textbooks and other documents that can be used for both formal and non-formal education about, for and in human rights.

Wikileaks and Its Relationship to ALA

2010-12-28T18:04:00.000-07:00

Wikileaks and Its Relationship to ALA.

What is the Mission of WikiLeaks?

Here we enter controversial territory because some say that WikiLeaks’ stated mission and the outcome differ. The WikiLeaks web site bases the mission on Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which asserts the human right of expression and receipt of information regardless of frontiers. Assange’s biography makes it clear that even as a teenager he was interested in making information transparent for everyone, and, some would argue, regardless of the consequences. The web site goes on to explain the concept of “principled leaking,” (web site 3.2) necessary to fight government, individual, and corporate corruption. Assange cites the actions of Daniel Ellsburg and the Pentagon Papers case as an example of why principled leaking is essential for good government. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Pentagon Papers case is online at the Cornell law site and other online sources. Commentators,including Todd Gltlin, differ on whether that parallel is accurate.

Ellsburg himself has publicly supported Wikileaks in this controversy. Ellsberg is slated to be a speaker at the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans in June, 2010 (arranged well before the current WikiLeaks controversy).

WikiLeaks views itself as an intermediary to help whistleblowers, who can “drop” the info at WikiLeaks to protect themselves.

Human Rights Documentation Initiative (HRDI) at the University of Texas at Austin

2010-12-28T07:55:00.001-07:00

Through service to international human rights scholars, activists, and students, the University of Texas Libraries (UTL) identified a need to preserve and make accessible the historical record of genocide and human rights violations. In order to address this need, UTL established the Human Rights Documentation Initiative (HRDI) at the University of Texas at Austin with a generous grant from the Bridgeway Foundation in 2008. Working with activists, scholars, and organizations to identify electronic and analog resources that are particularly vulnerable to loss, the HRDI aims to preserve the most fragile records of human rights struggles worldwide, promote the security and use of human rights archival materials, and further human rights research and advocacy around the world. Additionally, the Human Rights Documentation Initiative has partnered with the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice to identify key strategic issues for the Initiative as well as provide relevant programming to the UT community and beyond.

The Human Rights Documentation Initiative is international in scope, with projects ranging from Kigali, Rwanda to the Burma border.

Human Rights Day 2010

2010-12-10T12:40:00.000-07:00

Human Rights Day 2010 on 10 December recognizes the work of human rights defenders worldwide who act to end discrimination.

Acting alone or in groups within their communities, every day human rights defenders work to end discrimination by campaigning for equitable and effective laws, reporting and investigating human rights violations and supporting victims.

While some human rights defenders are internationally renowned, many remain anonymous and undertake their work often at great personal risk to themselves and their families.

Beyond Article 19: Libraries and Social and Cultural Rights

2010-12-09T09:33:00.003-07:00

Library Juice has posted the introduction to Beyond Article 19: Libraries and Social and Cultural Rights to their website. Julie Edwards’ introduction is a good read in itself regarding the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, particularly Articles 19 and 27. We know about Article 19 as a fundamental support for intellectual freedom, but there is less attention in the library world given to Article 27, about cultural rights. The book explores Article 27 and cultural rights in relation to libraries.

Write-a-thon planned for Human Rights Day- Bend Public Library

2010-12-06T08:41:00.001-07:00

Write-a-thon planned for Human Rights Day
Published: December 01. 2010 4:00AM PST

A letter-writing event in honor of Human Rights Day will take place at the Bend Public Library on Dec. 11, according to a news release.

The free event, which will run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., will give residents the opportunity to write letters and sign petitions supporting human rights issues and topics. Attendees can stop by the library’s Brooks Room and write letters about a variety of human rights issues. Free cookies, brownies and cocoa will be available for letter-writers.

Center for Human Rights Documentation and Research at Columbia University Libraries..-"Librarians for Human Rights Recognition for 2010"

2010-11-30T05:08:00.002-07:00

The "Librarians for Human Rights Recognition for 2010" is the Center for Human Rights Documentation and Research at Columbia University Libraries.

The Center for Human Rights Documentation and Research supports the community of teachers, researchers, and law and social justice advocates working in the multidisciplinary sphere of Human Rights. The Center develops global collections -- primary and secondary resources, as well as archival collections and internal records from human rights organizations -- and enhances the visibility and accessibility of these collections through high-profile programs, collaborative projects and library services.

CHRDR is the official designated repository for the archives of major Human Rights organizations such as Amnesty International USA, the Committee of Concerned Scientists, Human Rights First, and Human Rights Watch.

Human Rights Day 2010: Human Rights Defenders Who Act to End Discrimination.

2010-11-29T18:08:00.003-07:00

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

Human rights defenders acting against discrimination, often at great personal risk to both themselves and their families, are being recognized and acclaimed on this day.

Human rights defenders speak out against abuse and violations including discrimination, exclusion, oppression and violence. They advocate justice and seek to protect the victims of human rights violations. They demand accountability for perpetrators and transparency in government action. In so doing, they are often putting at risk their own safety, and that of their families.

Some human rights defenders are famous, but most are not. They are active in every part of the world, working alone and in groups, in local communities, in national politics and internationally.

Conference on Information Rights as Human Rights

2010-11-29T17:48:00.002-07:00

Conference on Information Rights as Human Rights

The focus of this year's Information Ethics Roundtable is the relation between human rights and information ethics.
Submit an abstract of up to 500 words on any of the above or closely related topics. E-mail contributions to infoethics2011@gmail.com. Include your full name, institutional affiliation and e-mail address. Address any queries about the conference to Kay Mathiesen (kmathies@email.arizona.edu).

Submission Deadline: December 15, 2010.
Acceptance Notification: January 1, 2011

Human Rights Quarterly-November 2010

2010-11-28T08:36:00.002-07:00

November, 2010.

of special note:
"International Forensic Investigations and the Human Rights of the Dead." by Adam Rosenblatt.

"The Interplay Between Global and Regional Human Rights Systems in the Construction of the Indigenous Rights Regime." by Mauro Barelli.

Southern Exposure Human Rights and HIV in the Southern United States

2010-11-26T08:08:00.001-07:00

The South is at the epicenter of the HIV epidemic in the United States, with more people living with HIV and dying of AIDS than in any region in the country. The South has:

* the highest rates of new infections,
* the most AIDS deaths,
* the largest numbers of adults and adolescents living with HIV/AIDS.

Report at Human Rights Watch.

Lessons to Be Learned From Paulo Freire as Education Is Being Taken Over by the Mega Rich

2010-11-25T20:26:00.002-07:00

At a time when institutions of public and higher education have become associated with market competition, conformity, disempowerment and uncompromising modes of punishment, making known the significant contributions and legacy of Paulo work is now more important than ever before.

Lessons to Be Learned From Paulo Freire as Education Is Being Taken Over by the Mega Rich

Tuesday 23 November 2010
by: Henry A. Giroux,
t r u t h o u t | Op-E

International Migrants Day - December 18

2010-11-24T20:13:00.001-07:00

International Migrants Day - December 18.

International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
Adopted by General Assembly resolution 45/158 of 18 December 1990

Syndromes of Corruption: Wealth, Power, and Democracy

2010-11-20T05:44:00.005-07:00

International Anti-Corruption Day is 9 December. The UN General Assembly designated 9 December as International Anti-Corruption Day. This decision was taken in order to raise awareness of corruption and of the role of the United Nations Convention against Corruption in combating and preventing it.

Syndromes of Corruption: Wealth, Power, and Democracy
By Johnston, Michael.
Corruption is a threat to democracy and economic development in many societies. It arises in the ways people pursue, use and exchange wealth and power, and in the strength or weakness of the state, political and social institutions that sustain and restrain those processes. Differences in these factors, Michael Johnston argues, give rise to four major syndromes of corruption: Influence Markets, Elite Cartels, Oligarchs and Clans, and Official Moguls. Johnston uses statistical measures to identify societies in each group, and case studies to show that the expected syndromes do arise. Winner of the 2009 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order.Michael Johnston is Charles A. Dana Professor of Political Science at Colgate University.

Technology is No Fix

2010-11-17T05:56:00.000-07:00

"If I were to summarize everything I learned through research in ICT4D, it would be this: technology—no matter how well designed—is only a magnifier of human intent and capacity. It is not a substitute. If you have a foundation of competent, well-intentioned people, then the appropriate technology can amplify their capacity and lead to amazing achievements. But, in circumstances with negative human intent, as in the case of corrupt government bureaucrats, or minimal capacity, as in the case of people who have been denied a basic education, no amount of technology will turn things around."

Forum on the role of information and communication technology in global development.

Aung San Suu Ky

2010-11-14T06:23:00.001-07:00

Human Rights Action Center.

Powers Defends WH Decision to Waive Child Soldiers

2010-10-30T05:55:00.004-06:00

The White House spent an hour Friday afternoon trying to convince angry Hill staffers and human rights activists that "naming and shaming" governments that recruit child soldiers, rather than imposing Congressionally-mandated sanctions on them, will better address the problem. But advocacy leaders are upset with the administration and rejected top White House officials' contention that removing sanctions against four troubled states will be a positive move.

The White House began a conference call on the issue Friday afternoon by apologizing to the NGO and Hill community for the decision's botched rollout, which was announced only through a short official presidential memorandum on Monday and then reported on by The Cable on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The call was off the record and not for press purposes, but a recording was made available to The Cable.

"This is a call that should have happened before you read about the administration's child soldiers' posture in the newspaper," said Samantha Power, the National Security Council's senior director for multilateral affairs and human rights. "Given the way you all heard about the implementation of the statute, I can understand why some of the reactions that you had were prevalent."

Power defended the president's decision.

Problem Situations, Not Problem Patrons.

2010-10-25T10:07:00.001-06:00

Fine article.

=========
Slavick, S. (2009). Problem Situations, Not Problem Patrons. Public Libraries, 48(6), 38-42.

Incarceration & social inequality-Daedalus

2010-10-19T15:31:00.002-06:00

Incarceration & social inequality.
Daedalus
Summer 2010, Vol. 139.

" takes an in-depth look at the connection between prison and poverty."

The study finds that the stigma of serving time in jail follows ex-convicts into the work world, making it nearly impossible for them to find stable employment.

Slate reports,

In devastating detail...the sociologists Bruce Western of Harvard and Becky Pettit of the University of Washington have shown how poverty creates prisoners and how prisons in turn fuel poverty, not just for individuals but for entire demographic groups.

NPR's Michel Martin interviews Pettit, the report's co-author, along with Eugene Nelson, an ex-convict seeking to rebuild his life.

Reconsidering Culture and Poverty-ANNALS, AAPSS, 629, May 2010

2010-10-18T14:29:00.002-06:00

"People who care about policy should also be concerned with culture because it shapes how policy elites make decisions affecting the poor. Among policy elites we include the scholars, journalists, and pundits who discuss poverty policy; the activists, advocates, scholars, and practitioners who purport to speak on behalf of
the poor; and the lawmakers, employers, and nonprofit leaders who, one way or another, make policy decisions that affect the conditions of the poor. The public discourse on poverty, and the policies resulting from that discourse, are themselves
cultural products, subject to the whims, predilections, prejudices, beliefs, attitudes, and orientations of policy elites. Both the discourse and the policy reflect deeply held (if often inconsistent) assumptions about the goals of policy and especially about work, responsibility, service, agency, “deservingness,” and
the structure of opportunity. These circumstances are particularly important in the realm of lawmaking and public policy."

Reconsidering Culture and Poverty.
By MARIO LUIS SMALL, DAVID J. HARDING,and MICHÈLE LAMONT.
[ANNALS, AAPSS, 629, May 2010]

Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore

2010-10-17T06:56:00.002-06:00

Levine, Adam Seth, Frank, Robert H. and Dijk, Oege, Expenditure Cascades (September 13, 2010).

Abstract:
Prevailing economic models of consumer behavior completely ignore the well-documented link between context and evaluation. We propose and test a theory that explicitly incorporates this link. Changes in one group’s spending shift the frame of reference that defines consumption standards for others just below them on the income scale, giving rise to expenditure cascades. Our model, a descendant of James Duesenberry’s relative income hypothesis, predicts the observed ways in which individual savings rates respond to changes in both own and others’ permanent income, as well as numerous other stylized fact patterns that are difficult to reconcile with prevailing models.

Download here

Summary article in NYTimes on 10/17/2010.

Mental Disability, Unfair Hearings, and Indefinite Detention in the US Immigration System

2010-10-09T14:52:00.001-06:00

Deportation by Default
Mental Disability, Unfair Hearings, and Indefinite Detention in the US Immigration System
July 25, 2010

This 98-page report says that immigrants with mental disabilities are often unjustifiably detained for years on end, sometimes with no legal limits. The report documents case after case in which people with mental disabilities were prevented from making claims against deportation – including claims of US citizenship – because they were unable to represent themselves. Some of the people interviewed for the report did not know their own names, were delusional, could not tell time, or did not know that deportation meant removal from the United States.

Liu Xiaobo wins Nobel Peace Prize

2010-10-08T05:19:00.004-06:00

Jailed Chinese pro-democracy activist Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for decades of non-violent struggle for human rights.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised Liu for his "long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China" and reiterated its belief in a "close connection between human rights and peace."
Rights groups said the prize came at a time when human rights have dropped down the agenda of Western governments focusing on China's growing economic power.

Nicholas Bequelin, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, called it "a victory for all the courageous Chinese dissidents, activists, lawyers and human rights defenders who have continued to stand up to tyranny for all these years."

Earlier this year, Deputy Foreign Minister Fu Ying had warned the head of the Nobel Institute against granting the prize to Liu, saying it would damage ties between China and Norway as they negotiate a bilateral trade deal.

The awarding of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize to the Chinese writer and human rights activist Liu Xiaobo underscores the urgent need for rights reforms in China, Human Rights Watch said today

It's a basic human right to be able to read anything

2010-10-04T11:30:00.002-06:00

To mark Banned Books Week the Douglas County Library (OR) had a display of several books that have been banned at one time or another.

Officials at the library say that banned book week is important to remind people that it's a basic human right to be able to read anything they choose.

The 29th annual Banned Books Week Saturday stressed a fundamental right since the country's founding. “No one has the right to tell other people what they can or can't read,” the county system's public services librarian, Chris Crowe, said. “The First Amendment guarantees the right to say and write what you want, but freedom of expression is useless unless people have the freedom to read as well.”
Douglas County Library.

Millennium Development Goals-Summit. 9.20-22, 2010.

2010-09-19T06:14:00.001-06:00

With only five years left until the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on world leaders to attend a summit in New York on 20-22 September to accelerate progress towards the MDGs.

"We must not fail the billions who look to the international community to fulfil the promise of the Millennium Declaration for a better world. Let us meet in September to keep the promise." -- UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon

Follow at Twitter.

Stand Up2010: September 17th - 19th

2010-09-19T06:03:00.002-06:00

Stand Up2010: September 17th - 19th

When world leaders gather at the United Nations for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Review Summit in September, the voices of their citizens will follow them, telling them, loudly and clearly: “We will no longer stay seated or silent in the face of poverty and the broken promises to end it!”

STANDUP 2010

M.D.G.’s for Beginners ... and Finishers-Bono

2010-09-19T05:55:00.002-06:00

The M.D.G.’s are possibly the most visionary deal that most people have never heard of. In the run-up to the 21st century, a grand global bargain was negotiated at a series of summit meetings and then signed in 2000. The United Nations’ “Millennium Declaration” pledged to “ensure that globalization becomes a positive force for all the world’s people,” especially the most marginalized in developing countries. It wasn’t a promise of rich nations to poor ones; it was a pact, a partnership, in which each side would meet obligations to its own citizens and to one another.
--read more.

Summit info.

Human Rights, Roots of Knowledge in Brooklyn

2010-08-30T05:34:00.001-06:00

After spending the summer making their mark on the community, students were recognized Thursday for their colorful mural, which now stands on display on 54th Street in Sunset Park.

"Love it because now every time I pass by here, I can say I did that. It's something of mine," said student John Cepeda.

Cepeda and about a dozen others spent seven weeks working on the public art project made of ceramic tile. It was part of a paid job program for 80 students working with the nonprofit group Groundswell.

A total of five murals were created in different communities across Brooklyn this summer. Each has its own theme and dedication ceremonies will be held for each over the next few weeks. The Sunset Park mural titled "Roots of Knowledge" was made in collaboration with the Brooklyn Public Library.

"We're a place where people can come and spend as much or as little time as they have and really commit to a lifelong process of learning and that's what's communicated in this mural," said Linda Johnson of the Brooklyn Public Library.

Over in Red Hook, finishing touches are being done on a 30 foot by 75 foot mural which explores the legacy of human rights. The work is titled "Some Walls Are Invisible" and was painted by 15 young artists.

Libraries, Low-Income People, and Social Exclusion

2010-08-22T07:54:00.002-06:00

Gehner, John 'Libraries, Low-Income People, and Social Exclusion', Public Library Quarterly 29 (Jan. 2010)1, 39 - 47

As a library school student John Gehner was troubled by Indiana Dean Blaise Cronin who wrote “What a Library Is Not."

Gehner observed: "Here was a person of influence within the library profession--the head of a respected academic program-making generalizations about poor people and complaining about what an ill-mannered and unmanageable bunch they were."

'Libraries, Low-Income People, and Social Exclusion' by John Gehner suggests that libraries can improve services to low-income persons by helping to minimize social exclusion. The author points out the significance of negative perceptions affecting the way that professional librarians approach those who face social exclusion for many different reasons. He suggests the need to move beyond categorical problem solving to a more comprehensive sense of community development as a way to positively affect the lives of low income families and individuals.

Freedom from Poverty as a Human Right: Who Owes What to the Very Poor?

2010-08-22T05:36:00.002-06:00

Thomas Pogge (ed.), Freedom from Poverty as a Human Right: Who Owes What to the Very Poor?

Collected here in one volume are fifteen cutting-edge essays by leading academics which together clarify and defend the claim that freedom from poverty is a human right with corresponding binding obligations on the more affluent to practice effective poverty avoidance. The nature of human rights and their corresponding duties is examined, as is the theoretical standing of the social, economic and cultural rights. The authors largely agree in concluding that there is a human right to be free from poverty and that this right is massively violated by the present world economy which creates huge unfair imbalances in income and wealth among and within countries. This searing indictment of the status quo is all the more powerful as the authors endorsing it exemplify diverse philosophical methods and moral traditions and also highlight different aspects of poverty and global institutional arrangements.

Library Alert!- Revised ADA Regulations Implementing Title II and Title III

2010-08-19T05:01:00.002-06:00

FACT SHEET
Highlights of the Final Rule to Amend the Department of Justice's Regulation Implementing Title II of the ADA. See here.

On Friday, July 23, 2010, Attorney General Eric Holder signed final regulations revising the Department’s ADA regulations, including its ADA Standards for Accessible Design. These regulations will be published in the Federal Register. The revised regulations will amend the Department’s Title II regulation, 28 C.F.R. Part 35, and the Title III regulation, 28 C.F.R. Part 36. Appendix A to each regulation includes a section by section analysis of the rule and responses to public comments on the proposed rule. Appendix B to the Title III regulation discusses major changes in the ADA Standards for Accessible Design and responds to public comments received on the proposed rules. The Department’s Final Regulatory Impact Analysis will be posted on this page as soon as it is available.

In general, these final rules will take effect 6 months after the date on which they are published in the Federal Register. Compliance with the 2010 Standards for Accessible Design is permitted after that date, but not required until 18 months after the date of publication. The Department has prepared fact sheets identifying the major changes in the rules.

Here are Highlights: FACT SHEET
Highlights of the Final Rule to Amend the Department of Justice's Regulation Implementing Title II of the ADA. See here.

Senior archivist of Black history to retire after years at Chicago Public Library's Harsh Research Collection

2010-08-17T06:37:00.003-06:00

Michael Flug, the senior archivist with the Chicago Public Library's Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection will retire next month after 21 years of service.

You might not know Flug's name, but if you've read a news story or book, or even watched a documentary dealing with black history in Chicago, chances are you've encountered archival information that he has either assembled or shepherded.

The Harsh Research Collection, housed in the Carter G. Woodson Library Branch, is believed to be the largest collection of African-American history and literature in the Midwest.

Civilising Globalisation: Human Rights and the Global Economy

2010-08-05T06:13:00.005-06:00

David Kinley. Civilising Globalisation: Human Rights and the Global
Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. xiv + 256 pp.
$110.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-521-88781-6; $39.99 (paper), ISBN
978-0-521-71624-6.

Reviewed by Robert Blanton (University of Memphis)
Published on H-Human-Rights (August, 2010). Commissioned by Rebecca K. Root

Toward a Human Rights Approach to Globalization

Though human rights concerns and the global economy both occupy prominent places on the international agenda, there are many facets of their relationship which have not been fully examined. Indeed, as David Kinley notes, many in the international development community actually question whether the two are related. Seeking to dispel this doubt, and to better elucidate the complex linkages between human rights and the global economy, the author examines the points of intersection between human rights and three of the leading facets of the global economy: trade, aid,and commerce, specifically foreign direct investment (FDI). As indicated by the purposively ambiguous title of the book, the relationship between human rights and the global economy is reciprocal--globalization should ideally "civilize" societies by providing better standards of living, while the "civilizing" influence of human rights can help to ameliorate the inequalities that may accompany globalization. The goal of this book is thus to provide policy-relevant insights for better incorporating human rights concerns into the global economy....read more.

7th National Conference of African American Librarians

2010-08-03T08:31:00.001-06:00

7th National Conference of African American Librarians
Culture Keepers VII: Bridging the Divide with Information Access,
Activism and Advocacy. August 4-9, 2010.

"Metatheory in Library and Information Science: A Nascent Social Justice Approach."-Kevin Rioux

2010-08-02T06:48:00.001-06:00

Rioux, Kevin. "Metatheory in Library and Information Science: A Nascent Social Justice Approach." Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 51, no. 1 (Winter 2010): 9-17.

This article explores the use of metatheory as an integrative conceptual tool that can help analyze, direct, and enhance theory building, professional practice, and professional preparation in LIS. The field's historic under-examination of metatheories is addressed, the nature of metatheory is explicated, and an emergent social justice metatheory for LIS is introduced, with the intention of encouraging discussion and increasing awareness of both metatheoretical approaches and social justice in LIS.

Human Rights and Privacy

2010-08-02T04:36:00.001-06:00

Stuart Hannabuss, (2007) "The Censorship Debate The Human Rights Issue Our Internet Society Protecting our Privacy “Issues” series", Library Review, Vol. 56 Iss: 5, pp.423 - 425

British Columbia Library Association (BCLA) Letter to Prime Minister and Ontario Premier on G20 incidents

2010-07-16T19:02:00.002-06:00

BCLA Letter to Prime Minister and Ontario Premier on G20 incidents

Friday, July 16, 2010
British Columbia Library Association / BCLA IFC

Below is the text of a letter mailed to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty on Friday, July 16, 2010. To see the letter as sent, please click here for a black and white pdf scan.

July 16, 2010

The Right Honourable Stephen Harper
Prime Minister of Canada
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2

Dalton McGuinty, Premier
Legislative Building
Queen's Park
Toronto ON M7A 1A1

Dear Prime Minister Harper and Premier McGuinty:

On behalf of the British Columbia Library Association, we are writing to express our deep concern over the unprecedented curtailment of civil liberties that took place at the June 2010 meeting of the G20 in Toronto.

The British Columbia Library Association (BCLA) is a non-profit, independent, voluntary association. Our more than 800 members include librarians, library personnel, library trustees and other interested individuals; corporate, government, school and academic libraries; publishers and library supply companies.

Intellectual freedom is one of the core values of librarianship. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedomsguarantees the rights to freedom of expression and to peaceful assembly. International meetings are an occasion for people to express their agreement or disagreement with their leaders. While Canada was hosting world leaders to discuss global policy, it had a duty to uphold the right of people to be heard and to congregate, while ensuring the safety of the host community and gathered political leaders. Members of the public should have been encouraged to actively participate in the debate and discussion. Instead, the extraordinary powers granted to police, as well as the massive level of security, severely limited the space for democratic expression and, according to Amnesty International Canada, “cast a chill over citizen participation in public discourse”.

Over the course of the G20 Summit, more than 1000 people were arrested, more than any other event in Canada’s history. Of particular concern are reports that numerous journalists were arrested, detained and constrained in the course of reporting on the meeting and demonstrations. The media play a critical role in preserving democracy by bearing witness and documenting events. Actions that curtail the media’s ability to do so severely limit the ability of citizens to hold their government to account. While overall arrests include those of people involved in vandalism or other property damage, the vast majority appear to have been arrested while exercising their constitutionally protected rights to freedom of assembly, association, and expression; some were random, uninvolved passers-by. These arrests appear to have been a strategy of preventative detention, infringing on important Charter rights with respect to due process. There are numerous, credible reports of police assaulting and intimidating peaceful protestors, including allegations of excessive force during arrests and the use of pepper spray, rubber bullets, tear gas, and mounted police against peaceful demonstrators. The clear effect of the G20 security approach was that many individuals felt unable, or afraid, to exercise these rights.

BCLA urges the Government of Ontario to review the impact of Ontario Regulation 233/10 on intellectual freedom, including the people’s right to express their intellectual position, and its impact on the media’s right to report multiple perspectives on major international events happening within Canada. The regulation was enacted under the Public Works Protection Act of 1939, a wartime statute conferring special powers on guards of specifically designated buildings and other sensitive facilities, giving them broad power to interrogate persons approaching or seeking access to them, as well as the power to search without warrant, to demand identification, and to arrest anyone not cooperating with these special powers. While the threat of Axis sabotage was real enough in 1939, the measure was never revoked after the World War II, nor were its broad extension provisions limited, and so it has remained on the books into the Charter era. Prior to the Summit, the Ontario cabinet used this unusually antiquated regulatory provision to extend the definition of a “public work” to include the entire geographical area within the periphery of the security fence that had been arbitrarily delimited and erected for the current summit. Even though the Legislature of Ontario was in session at the time, this extraordinary measure was undertaken without parliamentary debate or notice to the public or the press.

It is essential for Canada to learn from what took place during the G20 weekend. The only way for Canadians to understand exactly what transpired is through an independent public inquiry, held jointly by the Ontario and Federal governments. Such an inquiry must include opportunities for public input and participation, and produce findings that are released to the public. The inquiry should consider the impact of security measures on the Charter rights of citizens to freedom of assembly, association, expression, and due process.

In summary, the BCLA asserts that the legal and moral rights of all Canadians to peacefully engage in expressive freedoms on public streets in civil society are an important right afforded under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and must not be abridged.

(signed) (signed)
Marjorie Mitchell Jon Scop
President, BCLA Chair, BCLA Intellectual Freedom Committee

Prisoners’ Right to Read: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights

2010-07-15T04:15:00.002-06:00

Prisoners’ Right to Read: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights.

The American Library Association asserts a compelling public interest in the preservation of intellectual freedom for individuals of any age held in jails, prisons, detention facilities, juvenile facilities, immigration facilities, prison work camps and segregated units within any facility. As Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall wrote in Procunier v Martinez [416 US 428 (1974)]:

When the prison gates slam behind an inmate, he does not lose his human quality; his mind does not become closed to ideas; his intellect does not cease to feed on a free and open interchange of opinions; his yearning for self-respect does not end; nor is his quest for self-realization concluded. If anything, the needs for identity and self-respect are more compelling in the dehumanizing prison environment.

Participation in a democratic society requires unfettered access to current social, political, economic, cultural, scientific, and religious information. Information and ideas available outside the prison are essential to prisoners for a successful transition to freedom. Learning to be free requires access to a wide range of knowledge, and suppression of ideas does not prepare the incarcerated of any age for life in a free society. Even those individuals that a lawful society chooses to imprison permanently deserve access to information, to literature, and to a window on the world. Censorship is a process of exclusion by which authority rejects specific points of view. That material contains unpopular views or even repugnant content does not provide justification for censorship. Unlike censorship, selection is a process of inclusion that involves the search for materials, regardless of format, that represent diversity and a broad spectrum of ideas. The correctional library collection should reflect the needs of its community.

Libraries and librarians serving individuals in correctional facilities may be required by federal, state, or local laws; administrative rules of parent agencies; or court decisions to prohibit material that instructs, incites, or advocates criminal action or bodily harm or is a violation of the law. Only those items that present an actual compelling and imminent risk to safety and security should be restricted. Although these limits restrict the range of material available, the extent of limitation should be minimized by adherence to the Library Bill of Rights and its Interpretations.

These principles should guide all library services provided to prisoners:

* Collection management should be governed by written policy, mutually agreed upon by librarians and correctional agency administrators, in accordance with the Library Bill of Rights, its Interpretations, and other ALA intellectual freedom documents.
* Correctional libraries should have written procedures for addressing challenges to library materials, including a policy-based description of the disqualifying features, in accordance with “Challenged Materials” and other relevant intellectual freedom documents.
* Correctional librarians should select materials that reflect the demographic composition, information needs, interests, and diverse cultural values of the confined communities they serve.
* Correctional librarians should be allowed to purchase materials that meet written selection criteria and provide for the multi-faceted needs of their populations without prior correctional agency review. They should be allowed to acquire materials from a wide range of sources in order to ensure a broad and diverse collection. Correctional librarians should not be limited to purchasing from a list of approved materials.
* Age is not a reason for censorship. Incarcerated children and youth should have access to a wide range of fiction and nonfiction, as stated in “Free Access to Libraries for Minors."
* Correctional librarians should make all reasonable efforts to provide sufficient materials to meet the information and recreational needs of prisoners who speak languages other than English.
* Equitable access to information should be provided for persons with disabilities as outlined in “Services to People with Disabilities.”
* Media or materials with non-traditional bindings should not be prohibited unless they present an actual compelling and imminent risk to safety and security.
* Material with sexual content should not be banned unless it violates state and federal law.
* Correctional libraries should provide access to computers and the Internet.

When free people, through judicial procedure, segregate some of their own, they incur the responsibility to provide humane treatment and essential rights. Among these is the right to read. The right to choose what to read is deeply important, and the suppression of ideas is fatal to a democratic society. The denial of the right to read, to write, and to think—to intellectual freedom—diminishes the human spirit of those segregated from society. Those who cherish their full freedom and rights should work to guarantee that the right to intellectual freedom is extended to all incarcerated individuals.

Programs promoting reading in Spanish prisons

2010-07-09T07:52:00.002-06:00

IFLA Journal. June 2010; 36 (2)

Programs promoting reading in Spanish prisons by. Margarita Pérez Pulido,
University of Extremadura
Abstract

This paper focuses on a series of studies and findings that document the effectiveness of reading and writing as a tool for the rehabilitation of disadvantaged population groups, including incarcerated people. Today, programs that raise awareness of and encourage reading in prison have been implemented in many countries around the world, but the specific nature and content of these programs, as well as the extent to which they are actually functioning, differ among countries according to both the cultural and legal contexts. Hence the importance of the current analysis of the situation in Spain, which draws attention to the most recent and effective techniques and their application for possible future comparative studies. With this objective, the author identifies examples of best practices, analyzes methodologies, and examines the extent of innovation demonstrated by these programs within the unique prison environment, as well as in the context of the Spanish cultural and legal framework.

Encyclopedia of Human Rights-

2010-07-04T03:52:00.000-06:00

Encyclopedia of Human Rights
Editor in Chief: David P Forsythe

Winner of the 2010 Dartmouth Medal, this major five-volume encyclopedia offers comprehensive coverage of all aspects of human rights theory, practice, law, and history. The set will provide situation profiles and full coverage of the development of the movement, historical cases of abuse, the key figures, major organizations, and a range of other issues in economics, government, religion, and journalism that touch on human rights theory and practice.

2010 Jean E. Coleman Outreach Lecture: Librarians and Human Rights

2010-07-03T08:44:00.004-06:00

2010 Jean E. Coleman Outreach Lecture. 6. 28. 2010. Washington, D.C.
Lecturer: Kathleen de la Peña McCook: "Librarians and Human Rights"

=========================================

People recognized for special commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Back Row: L to R:

Satia Orange, past director of ALA OLOS-

Article 1: All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Dr. Cora P. Dunkley, USF-SLIS Professor and Coretta Scott King TF ;

Article 26.
• (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
• (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
• (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Barbara J. Ford, Mortenson Center distinguished professor, first Coleman lecturer and past.ALA President;

Preamble: Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

Kathleen de la Peña McCook, 2010 Coleman Lecturer; distinguished university professor, University of South Florida, Beta Phi Mu,honoree, Futas honoree, Equality honoree.

2010 Coleman Lecturer “Librarians and Human Rights.”

Bill McCook, 47 year member of United Brotherhood of Carpenters.

Article 23.
* (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
* (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
* (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
* (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Ann Sparanese, past Futas Honoree, Head of Adult and Young Adult Services, Englewood Public Library, NJ, Coleman Committee;

Article 19.
* Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Alicia Long, SPECTRUM Scholar at USF SLIS; .

Article 15.

* (1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.
* (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

Diane Austin, asst. director, USF,SLIS.
Article 27.

* (1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
* (2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Front Row: L-R

Dr. Barbara Immroth, professor at UT-Austin,past president of ALSC, Beta Phi Mu honoree;

Article 26.
• (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
• (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
• (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Dr. Henrietta M. Smith, Professor Emerita, USF-SLIS, ALSC Honoree,
Coretta Scott King TF;

Article 26.
• (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
• (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
• (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Dr. Alma Dawson, Russell Long professor at LSU,SLIS, Equality Award Honoree.

Article 7.
* All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Not in this picture, but on the panel picture.
Katharine J. Phenix, Adult Services Librarian Rangeview Library, Adams County, Col.

Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Human Rights Section Best Book Award Winners (APSA)

2010-07-01T16:47:00.000-06:00

The Section on Human Rights of the American Political Science Association was established to encourage scholarship and facilitate exchange of data and research findings on all components of human rights (e.g., civil, political, economic, social, cultural, environmental), their relationship, determinants and consequences of human rights policies, structure and influence of human rights organizations, development, implementation, impact on international conventions, and changes in the international human rights regime.

Human Rights Section Award Winners
.
Best Book Award is given for the best single-authored, multi-authored or edited volume on human rights by a political scientist and published in the previous two years.

2009 Barbara Bennett Woodhouse, Emory University
Hidden in Plain Sight: the Tragedy of Children’s Rights from Ben Franklin to Lionel Tate
(Princeton University Press, 2008)
2008 Darius Rejail, Reed College.
Torture and Democracy (Princeton University Press, 2007)
2007 Stephen Hopgood, University of London.
Keepers of the Flame: Understanding Amnesty International (Cornell University Press, 2006)
2006 Eric Stover, University of California, Berkeley.
The Witnesses: War Crimes and the Promise of Justice in The Hague (University of Pennsylvania
Press, 2005).
2004 Rhoda E. Howard-Hassman, Wilfred Laurier University.
Compassionate Canadians: Civic Leaders Discuss Human Rights (University of Toronto Press,
2003)
2003 Richard Pierre Claude, University of Maryland.
Science in the Service of Human Rights (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002)

Towards inclusive knowledge societies: a review of UNESCO's action in implementing the WSIS outcomes

2010-07-01T09:02:00.000-06:00

Download: Towards inclusive knowledge societies: a review of UNESCO's action in implementing the WSIS outcomes

This report reviews the UNESCO’s work in these implementation areas during the five years since the Tunis phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in 2005. It summarises some highlights of what has been achieved to date and reflects upon the challenges which have arisen in the implementation of WSIS outcomes.
The report looks in turn at UNESCO’s three main roles in WSIS implementation:

# as a coordinator/lead facilitator, with ITU, UNDP and UNCTAD, of the overall implementation process, including UNGIS and the WSIS Forum;
# as a facilitator of six Action Lines to facilitate the implementation of the WSIS outcomes in specific areas of work; and
# as an implementer of programmes and initiatives that seek to build inclusive Knowledge Societies and thereby contribute to the achievement of WSIS goals.

The final section of the report looks forward over the next five years to suggest ways in which implementation of WSIS results might be more effectively integrated in the broader work that UNESCO and other agencies are doing. This work aims at achieving the benefits that can be derived from the Knowledge Societies to whose development UNESCO is committed.

Labor Rights are Human Rights.

2010-06-19T04:26:00.000-06:00

Monday, June 28, 2010 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Labor Rights are Human Rights.

RUSA ALA Washington Convention Center -206 Human Resources and Staff Development.

Labor rights are at the heart of the struggle for human rights. The freedom to associate, to organize and to have equal opportunities in the workplace are under attack around the world. This program will discuss labor rights, including the role of unions in promoting democracy and economic prosperity, and the attack on workers’ rights as part of an international phenomenon. The importance of unions to the
salary and status of women will be a special focus of this program.

Speakers: Bama Athreya, International Labor Rights Forum, Executive Director;
Carol Rosenblatt, Coalition of Labor Union Women, Executive Director

Public library as a place for transformation

2010-06-11T08:09:00.000-06:00

"Free for All" by Kate Bowman-Johnston.

The public library as a place for transformation.
By Kate Bowman-Johnston.

[The article is accessible online but requires a free registration to the website. Lisa Gieskes, coordinator of the Hunger, Homelessness, and Poverty Task Force of SRRT, is quoted in this article.]

in Sojourners May 2010.

Information Rights as Human Rights

2010-06-10T19:21:00.000-06:00

Information Ethics Roundtable

Spring 2011
School of Information Resources and Library Science
University of Arizona

This Year's Topic: Information Rights as Human Rights

We live in an "information society." Information and information technologies are increasingly essential to our social, economic, and political interactions. Given this, serious reflection on information ethics imperative. "Information ethics" studies the value questions that arise in the creation, control, and access to information. The Information Ethics Roundtable is a yearly conference, which brings together researchers from disciplines such as philosophy, information science, communications, public administration, anthropology and law to discuss the ethical issues such as information privacy, intellectual property, intellectual freedom, and censorship.

The focus of this year's roundtable is the relation between human rights and information ethics. The Universal Declaration on Human Rights lists a number of rights related to information (e.g., Articles 18, 19, 25, and 26). Such "information rights" include the rights to create and communicate information (e.g., freedom of expression, freedom of association), to control other's access to information (e.g., privacy and intellectual property), and rights to access information (e.g., freedom of thought, the right to read). This conference will address several conceptual, empirical, and ethical issues:

* What theoretical approaches to human rights could be most fruitfully applied to questions in information ethics?
* What are the human rights related to information?
* Are information rights best conceived merely as liberties, which obligate states to refrain from restricting freedoms, or as welfare rights, which obligate states to provide resources?
* Are information rights instrumental rights, that is, do they promote the fulfillment of other human rights?
* What challenges does cultural diversity pose to a human rights approach to information ethics?
* Is there empirical research (e.g., case studies, statistical analyses) relevant to understanding the relation between information ethics and human rights?
* What are the relationships and possible conflicts between information human rights (e.g., the right to intellectual property and the right to access information)?
* Do we have human rights to access particular information technologies, such as computers, cellphones, or the Internet?
* What are the drawbacks of taking a human rights approach to information ethics?

The roundtable is free and open to the public. For further information, contact the program chair:

Kay Mathiesen
School of Information Resources and Library Science
University of Arizona
kmathies (at) email (dot) arizona (dot) edu

Librarians and Human Rights: Dr. Jean E. Coleman Library Outreach Lecture

2010-06-09T03:57:00.000-06:00

McCook to present 2010 Dr. Jean E. Coleman Library Outreach Lecture
By John Amundsen
Created 06/09/2010 - 18:41

CHICAGO – Kathleen de la Peña McCook, distinguished university professor at the University of South Florida, School of Library and Information Science in Tampa, will present the 2010 Dr. Jean E. Coleman Library Outreach Lecture from 8 a.m. to 10 am. on Monday June 28th in the Washington Convention Center Room 209 A/B, as part of the 2010 ALA Annual Conference in Washington D.C.
The lecture honors Dr. Jean E. Coleman, the first director of the ALA Office for Literacy and Outreach Services, for her work to ensure that all citizens, particularly Native Americans and adult learners, have access to quality library services. The lecture series continues to teach library professionals more about their roles in providing equity of access.

This year’s lecture, “Librarians and Human Rights,” will present a historical and cultural analysis of the librarian’s role in human rights, as defined by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. McCook will highlight the convergence of the goals of library workers and the human rights movement and how librarians can work to achieve a more equitable society in the United States as a compassionate nation among others.

“A human rights sensibility will characterize librarianship in the twenty-first century,” said McCook. “In the largest sense, librarians will contribute to the end of social exclusion and the achievement of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals by commitment to the ideals of universal literacy and equal access to information.”

McCook is distinguished university professor at the University of South Florida, School of Library and Information Science in Tampa. She is the author of “A Place at the Table: Libraries and Community Building”; editor of the blog Union Librarian; and serves as a member of the Coordinating Council of the Progressive Librarians Guild. In 2002, she was selected by REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking, as the recipient of the Arnulfo D. Trejo Librarian of the Year Award. She has received the ALA Equality Award and the Beta Phi Mu Teaching Award and was the inaugural honoree of the ALA Office of Diversity’s Achievement in Library Diversity Research. She served as chair of the ALA Office for Literacy and Outreach Services Advisory Committee from 1994-1997.

The event is coordinated by the Subcommittee on the Dr. Jean E. Coleman Lecture, a subcommittee of the OLOS Advisory Committee. Thanks to the members of the subcommittee, Fantasia Thorne and Ann Sparanese, for their work in selecting Kathleen de la Peña McCook. For more information, visit www.ala.org/olos [1].

The mission of OLOS, as a part of the ALA Member Programs and Services Department, is to identify and promote library services that support equitable access to the knowledge and information stored in libraries. OLOS focuses attention on services that are inclusive of traditionally underserved populations, and people generally discriminated against based on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, language and social class. The Office ensures that training, information resources, and technical assistance are available to help libraries and librarians develop effective strategies to grow programs and services for library users.

Supplemental Poverty Measure Announced and Questioned

2010-05-31T05:41:00.002-06:00

Under a "Supplemental Poverty Measure" announced by the Commerce Department, the government is augmenting, but not replacing, the formula that determines how many people are considered to be in poverty, taking into account a wider range of expenses and income to try to create a truer portrait of which Americans are financially fragile.

The old definition, developed in the mid-1960s using data from a decade earlier, was based on the cost of food and a family's cash income. The new one, acknowledging that food has become a smaller share of poor families' costs, will also consider expenses such as housing, utilities, child care and medical treatment. In gauging people's resources, the new method will include financial help from housing and food subsidies, in addition to money from jobs and cash assistance programs.

Additional observations:

There are people out there--in Wisconsin and New York City--working to create a similar supplemental poverty measure using the American Community Survey (ACS)--a survey with a much bigger sample size that would allow local level reporting.

This new measure, whatever its limitations, represents a rich addition to our statistical infrastructure.
==
To paraphrase the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan: The administration is defining poverty up. It's legitimate to debate how much we should aid the poor or try to reduce economic inequality. But the debate should not be skewed by misleading statistics that not one American in 100,000 could possibly understand. Government statistics should strive for political neutrality. This one fails.

Resources for Researching Country Conditions

2010-05-17T05:24:00.002-06:00

Resources for Researching Country Conditions.

`Comcast/Bit Torrent Decision.'

2010-05-13T04:39:00.000-06:00

`Comcast/Bit Torrent Decision.'
One of the biggest technology and economic policy issues of our day has been getting a lot of press lately, because of a recent court ruling called the `Comcast/Bit Torrent Decision.'

Comcast, America's largest internet service provider, was sued by a customer in 2007 for `throttling' his service - that is, deliberately slowing it down because he was downloading large video files. Comcast did not refute the charge, but instead, challenged the legal basis of the FCC to regulate the supplying of service in the first place.

After 3 years of knocking around, the D.C. Circuit Court agreed with Comcast. This was a stunning and unexpected decision, which has called into question two important and interrelated policies with far-reaching political and economic impact -

Rioux on Social Justice: A Metatheory Approach

2010-05-03T16:32:00.002-06:00

Metatheory in Library and Information Science: A Nascent Social Justice Approach

Kevin Rioux. "Metatheory in Library and Information Science: A Nascent Social Justice Approach." Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 51.1 (2010): 9-17.

This article explores the use of metatheory as an integrative conceptual tool that can help analyze, direct, and enhance theory building, professional practice, and professional preparation in LIS. The field's historic under-examination of metatheories is addressed, the nature of metatheory is explicated, and an emergent social justice metatheory for LIS is introduced, with the intention of encouraging discussion and increasing awareness of both metatheoretical approaches and social justice in LIS.

Keywords: metatheory, social justice, LIS education, theory-building, conceptual analysis

Human Rights Web Archive-Columbia University

2010-04-25T08:55:00.004-06:00

The Center for Human Rights Documentation & Research (CHRDR), part of Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, is pleased to announce the development of the Human Rights Web Archive.
As part of Columbia's larger initiative to collect free and at-risk web resources, the Human Rights Web Archive is dedicated to preserving web-based information of importance to the global community of human rights researchers, students, policymakers and advocates.

*Nominate a site for the Human Rights Web Archive*
--

Pamela Graham, Director
Area Studies / Center for Human Rights Documentation & Research
Latin American & Iberian Studies Librarian
Columbia University
307 International Affairs, 420 W. 118th St.
New York, NY 10027
graham@columbia.edu
212.854.3630 / 212.854.3834 (fax)

Prison Outreach and Great Books.

2010-04-23T20:46:00.002-06:00

“Of Balls and Chains: Great Books Discussion Program Fosters Free Thought In Prisons"

...When inmates are given food for thought, it’s a whole different ballgame, according to Peter Buttross, a Mississippi poet and philosopher who has been co-leading a Great Books discussion group at a local prison for five years. “In these prisons, you will find spirituality, religiosity, and devotion to intellectual and spiritual pursuits that dwarf what I have experienced in university life,” he explains over the phone. “There is an urgency there that I have never seen in graduate seminars. It’s a question of survival for them whether they understand these texts. That’s the meat for the week to sustain them,” he says.
Tom McNeely, a Natchez, Mississippi attorney, single-handedly started the prison
discussion club in the late nineties. He and Buttross hold their bi-monthly sessions at a Corrections Corporation of America facility in Woodville, Mississippi. Their program now has the substantial support of Dr. Daniel Born and his Great Books Foundation in Chicago, which supplies the reading material for the program, as well as training for volunteers in other prison groups.

"Alto Arizona!"

2010-04-18T06:04:00.002-06:00

Arizona is on the verge of enacting the most anti-immigrant legislation the country has seen in a generation. This is a bill which apparently mandates racial profiling. SB 1070 is quite literally intended to terrorize immigrant families.
"Alto Arizona!" is a targeted call to action that is asking opponents of AZ SB 1070 to contact Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) to ask her to veto this bill!

The passage of SB 1070 by the House of Representatives in Arizona will have chilling repercussions if signed into law by Governor Brewer. The bill dramatically expands police powers to stop, question and detain individuals for not having proper identification, a move that will instigate racial profiling and fear and driving a wedge between groups.

Chicago Public Library is a Partner of the Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights

2010-04-12T19:03:00.002-06:00

Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights helps people living in poverty or danger improve their lives and realize their human rights. From a refugee fleeing violence and torture to a resident of public housing trying to escape the cycle of poverty, Heartland Alliance helps people in the toughest of circumstances—who often have no place else to go.

We bring a human rights perspective to our work. We believe human rights are both about issues abroad as well as issues in our own backyard—including freedom from poverty, access to health care, a roof over your head, and fair treatment in the justice system.

In addition to the Illinois Department of Public Health, our partners in health include the Illinois Department of Human Services, the Chicago Department of Public Health, the National Network of Libraries of Medicine/Greater Midwest Region, the University of Illinois at Chicago, Healthy Roads Media, and the Office on Women's Health, Region V, of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and, recently, the Chicago Public Library.

Rights of Migrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers

2010-04-10T04:34:00.002-06:00

4/9: Report of the Rights of Migrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers

Report of the rights of Migrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers, which will be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in advance of the first Universal Periodic Review of the US for compliance with our human rights obligations. To read the full submission text and to sign on see here.

"Prisoners' Right to Read: An Interpretation to the Library Bill of Rights"

2010-04-01T16:27:00.007-06:00

From: Martin Garnar, chair, ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee
Subject: A New Interpretation to the Library Bill of Rights

I am happy to announce that the eighth edition of the Intellectual Freedom Manual is well on its way to publication and will be released during the 2010 Annual Conference in DC. Although the eighth edition is now available for pre-order through the ALA Store online, the Intellectual Freedom Committee has already begun work on the ninth edition, starting with a new Interpretation: "Prisoners' Right to Read."

During its Spring Meeting, the Intellectual Freedom Committee adopted "Prisoners' Right to Read: An Interpretation to the Library Bill of Rights" (see below). We plan to present this Interpretation for adoption when I give the Report to Council at Council Session III during the 2010 Annual Conference in DC. The committee would therefore appreciate receiving any comments you may have prior to conference, no later than Friday, June 11, 2010.

Please send comments on this Interpretation prior to conference to Barbara Jones,ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom (e-mail: bjones@ala.org), and please carbon copy Nanette Perez (e-mail: nperez@ala.org). This Interpretation is also available on ALA Connect for comment at http://connect.ala.org/node/98679.

Thank you for your time and assistance. The committee looks forward to hearing your comments on the new Interpretation.
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1
Prisoners’ Right to Read: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights
The American Library Association asserts a compelling public interest in the preservation of intellectual freedom for individuals of any age held in jails, prisons, detention facilities, juvenile facilities, immigration facilities, prison work camps and segregated units within any facility. As Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall wrote in Procunier v Martinez [416 US 428 (1974)]:
When the prison gates slam behind an inmate, he does not lose his human quality; his mind does not become closed to ideas; his intellect does not cease to feed on a free and open interchange of opinions; his yearning for self-respect does not end; nor is his quest for self-realization concluded. If anything, the needs for identity and self-respect are more compelling in the dehumanizing prison environment.

Participation in a democratic society requires unfettered access to current social, political, economic, cultural, scientific, and religious information. Information and ideas available outside the prison are essential to prisoners for a successful transition to freedom. Learning to be free requires access to a wide range of knowledge, and suppression of ideas does not prepare the incarcerated of any age for life in a free society. Even those individuals that a lawful society chooses to imprison permanently deserve access to information, to literature, and to a window on the world.

Correctional facility libraries may be required by federal, state, or local laws; administrative rules of parent agencies; or court decisions to prohibit material that instructs, incites, or advocates criminal action or bodily harm or is a violation of the law. Although these limits can restrict the range of material available, the extent of limitation should be minimized by adherence to the Library Bill of Rights and its Interpretations. Library policy should be based on legal principles specifying that such exclusion must be reasonably related to legitimate penological objectives [Turner v Safley, 482 U.S. 78 (1987) and Thornburgh v Abbott, 490 U.S.401 (1989)].

Prohibiting material for any other reason constitutes unwarranted censorship.
Censorship is an exclusive process by which authority rejects specific points of view. That material contains unpopular views or even repugnant content does not provide justification for censorship. Altering a publication is a form of censorship and should be employed only when a minimal amount of material is expurgated for legitimate penological interests and will ultimately allow the prisoner access to a document that would otherwise be excluded in whole. Unlike censorship, selection is an inclusive process that involves the search for materials, regardless of format, that represent diversity and a broad spectrum of ideas. Accepting that fiscal reality places limits on collection development, the correctional library collection should reflect the needs of its community.

These principles should guide all libraries serving prisoners:
· Collection management should be governed by written policy, mutually agreed upon by librarians and correctional agency administrators, in accordance with the Library Bill of Rights, its Interpretations, and other ALA intellectual freedom documents.
· Correctional libraries should have written procedures for addressing challenges to library materials in accordance with “Challenged Materials” and other relevant intellectual freedom documents.
· Correctional librarians should select materials that reflect the demographic composition, information needs, interests, and diverse cultural values of the confined communities they serve. As stated in “Free Access to Libraries for Minors,” age is not a reason for censorship. Incarcerated children and youth should have access to a wide range of fiction and nonfiction.
· Correctional librarians should be allowed to purchase materials that meet written selection criteria without prior correctional agency review. They should be allowed to acquire materials from a wide range of sources in order to ensure a broad and diverse collection.
· Correctional libraries should not be limited to purchasing from a list of approved materials. A library’s function is to provide for the multi-faceted needs of its population, rather than collect only materials that support the values and mission of the agency or its management.

· The correctional library should make all reasonable efforts to provide sufficient materials to meet the information and recreational needs of prisoners who speak languages other than English.
· Equitable access to information should be provided for persons with disabilities as outlined in “Services to People with Disabilities.”
· If a correctional agency prohibits items, it should describe disqualifying physical features or provide a list that:
1) includes bibliographic citations to the exact edition, volume, or
issue censored,
2) references specific passages of text, and
3) cites the rule that the passage or feature violates.
· Media or materials with non-traditional bindings should not be prohibited unless they present legitimate security concerns for the correctional facility.
· Material with sexual content should not be banned unless it violates state and federal law.
· In correctional facilities that do not permit prisoners to use the Internet, the correctional library should provide alternate access to information available only online.

When free people, through judicial procedure, segregate some of their own, they incur the responsibility to provide humane treatment and essential rights. Among these is the right to read. The right to choose what to read is deeply important, and the suppression of ideas is fatal to a democratic society. The denial of the right to read, to write, and to think—to intellectual freedom—diminishes the human spirit of those segregated from society. Those who cherish their full freedom and rights should work to guarantee that the right to intellectual freedom is extended to all incarcerated individuals.

Library of the European Court of Human Rights

2010-03-29T18:23:00.000-06:00

The Library of the European Court of Human Rights is specialised in human rights law, particulary the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights, but also including comparative law and public international law

Country Reports on Human Rights-2009. U.S. Dept. of State

2010-03-12T06:26:00.001-07:00

The idea of human rights begins with a fundamental commitment to the dignity that is the birthright of every man, woman and child. Progress in advancing human rights begins with the facts. And for the last 34 years, the United States has produced the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, providing the most comprehensive record available of the condition of human rights around the world.
HERE are the reports: CLICK.

This report is submitted to the Congress by the Department of State in compliance with Sections 116(d) and 502B(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (FAA), as amended. The law provides that the Secretary of State shall transmit to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate by February 25 "a full and complete report regarding the status of internationally recognized human rights, within the meaning of subsection (A) in countries that receive assistance under this part, and (B) in all other foreign countries which are members of the United Nations and which are not otherwise the subject of a human rights report under this Act." We have also included reports on several countries that do not fall into the categories established by these statutes and thus are not covered by the congressional requirement.

HERE are the reports: CLICK.

“Longest Reading Aloud Marathon by a Team” while reading the 30 Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, repeatedly

2010-03-09T06:12:00.001-07:00

Miami, November 16, 2009 - At exactly 6 p.m. on November 12, 2009, six women set a new Guinness World Record™ for “Longest Reading Aloud Marathon by a Team” while reading the 30 Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, repeatedly for more than 224 hours at Miami Dade College’s InterAmerican Campus in Little Havana.

The stalwart women are from the International Solidarity for Human Rights organization. During the ten day effort, hundreds of community leaders, faculty, staff and students visited the women and encouraged them with many placing the flags of their countries of birth on the backdrop behind the table where they read.

--KJP

Resistance against Library Segregation-PETERSBURG, Va.-1960

2010-03-04T19:49:00.002-07:00

Looking back, Crocker said he recognizes the importance of the library being one of the first places in the city to be desegregated. "People sacrificed a lot, so that everybody in the community can have access to the entire library," Crocker said. "A lot of people sacrificed a lot of their time and their reputations in order for things to happen. I think it was very important that this happened in the 1960s and gave access to reading materials - and of course reading and information is the key to success," he said.

After sit-ins come protests, court cases and finally, integration
by Markus Schmidt (staff writer)
Published: February 28, 2010

PETERSBURG - The Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker, the Rev. R.G. Williams and three local students had already spent more than 24 hours in the city jail for trespassing at Petersburg's segregated public library, when in the early evening of Tuesday, March 8, 1960, more than 200 protesters marched.
Read More.

--Thanks KJP.

Braverman Award 2010

2010-03-04T06:14:00.001-07:00

Miriam Braverman Memorial Award Presented by the Progressive Librarians Guild.

Seeks papers concerned with an aspect of the social responsibilities of librarians, libraries, or librarianship.

Miriam Ruth Gutman Braverman (1920-2002) was a socialist, writer, activist librarian and longstanding member of the Progressive Librarians Guild, a founder of the ALA's Social Responsibilities Round Table, and a proponent of the social responsibilities perspective. Miriam's spirit of activism and faith in the power of people's collective efforts toward social justice is what the Miriam Braverman Award is intended to foster in future generations of librarians.

UN Releases Report on Housing Violations in U.S.

2010-03-03T04:30:00.003-07:00

HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
Thirteenth session
Agenda item 3

The United Nations has released the final report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing's U.S. mission, making both broad and specific findings and recommendations about housing rights violations in the United States.

The Special Rapporteur, Raquel Rolnik, visited six cities in the U.S. from October 23-November 8, 2009 in her mission. The Law Center co-coordinated Ms. Rolnik's visit.

After an extremely participatory visit, many of the concerns homeless and low-income communities across the country expressed to her are included in the report.

The Rapporteur's report recommends, among other things:

* Increasing resources for public and affordable housing;
* The Protecting Tenants At Foreclosure Act should be extended beyond its 2012 sunset;
* Vacant properties should be made available to housing organizations for the provision of affordable housing;
* Constructive alternatives to the criminalization of homelessness should be developed, and where adequate shelter is not available, homeless persons should be allowed to shelter themselves in public areas;
*The HUD definition of homelessness should be expanded to include those living doubled up with others due to economic hardship.
* Congress should pass H.Res. 582 and devote increased resources to the Family Unification Voucher Program.

The Rapporteur will present her report to the UN Human Rights Council on March 5th in Geneva, Switzerland.

Next steps for advocates should include 1) publicizing the report, 2) demanding an action plan from legislators and HUD for implementing the report's recommendations, and 3) using the report recommendations and findings in local advocacy. For more information, contact National Law Center Homelessness and Poverty Human Rights Program Director Eric Tars.

Out of Obscurity, the Story of the 1939 Alexandria Library Sit-in

2010-02-28T10:11:00.001-07:00

Out of Obscurity, the Story of the 1939 Alexandria Library Sit-in.

This video details a little-known, but nonetheless watershed, chapter in civil rights history. Just before World War II broke out, five young men staged the nation's first sit-in to protest the "separate but equal" treatment of African Americans. The sit-in, at the Alexandria public library, was choreographed by Samuel Wilbert Tucker, a black attorney from Alexandria who went on to become the most celebrated civil rights attorney in Virginia. "Out of Obscurity" is narrated by Dr. Julian Bond, Chairman of the NAACP, who was the voice of "Eyes on the Prize" and numerous other documentaries.

[thanls to CG for alert}.

What Are Human Rights? Four Schools of Thought

2010-02-27T15:50:00.002-07:00

Volume 32, Number 1, February 2010

What Are Human Rights? Four Schools of Thought
Marie-Bénédicte Dembour
Human Rights Quarterly, Volume 32, Number 1, February 2010, pp. 1-20 (Article)

Abstract:

A close reading of academic literature reveals that we do not all conceive of human rights in the same way. This contribution proposes that "natural scholars" conceive of human rights as given; "deliberative scholars" as agreed upon; "protest scholars" as fought for; and "discourse scholars" as talked about. The position of each of these four schools on the foundation, universality, possible realization, and legal embodiment of human rights is reviewed, as well as is the schools' faith, or lack thereof, in human rights. Quotations from academic texts illustrate how the four school model cuts across the academic disciplines with examples drawn from philosophy, politics, law, and anthropology.

One Film, One Book, One Theme: "human rights and problems of justice" at Free Library of Philadelphia

2010-02-27T15:06:00.001-07:00

One Film, One Book, One Theme
The selection of "Waltz With Bashir" for One Film, One Philadelphia dovetails nicely with "Persepolis": The subject of both is war.
An annual visual literacy program copresented by the Greater Philadelphia Film Office and the Free Library of Philadelphia, One Film offers more than a dozen screenings, discussion panels, and workshops at various venues across Philadelphia through March 17.

One Film program assistant Sara Strickland said Waltz was a natural choice.

"We wanted to choose a program that would fit with our One Book selection," she said, referring to Iranian-born Marjane Satrapi's graphic memoir Persepolis. One Book, which began Jan. 20, also goes through March 17 and includes programs on Satrapi's book and its adaptation into an animated film.

Local film scholar Ruth Perlmutter, who served on the One Film selection committee, applauds Folman's decision to use the cartoon genre to tell a story about "human rights and problems of justice."

A harrowing true-to-life account, Waltz follows Folman as he tries to remember an infamous massacre he witnessed while serving with the Israeli Defense Forces during the 1982 Lebanon war. Some of its themes mirror those in Satrapi's account of her childhood in Iran during the Islamic Republic's war with Iraq.

End Food Deserts

2010-02-19T19:12:00.002-07:00

Healthy Food Financing Initiative

Philadelphia — The Obama Administration today released details of an over $400 million Healthy Food Financing Initiative, which will bring grocery stores and other healthy food retailers to underserved urban and rural communities across America. TThe initiative is a partnership between the Departments of Treasury, Agriculture, and Health and Human Services.

The U.S. Food Environment Atlas

Food environment factors—such as store/restaurant proximity, food prices, food and nutrition assistance programs, and community characteristics—interact to influence food choices and diet quality. Research is beginning to document the complexity of these interactions, but more is needed to identify causal relationships and effective policy interventions.

Affirming Fundamental Freedoms:2010 Washington Human Rights Summit

2010-02-17T05:58:00.000-07:00

The 2010 Washington Human Rights Summit: Affirming Fundamental Freedoms, in Washington, D.C. on February 17, 18 and 19, 2010 will bring together many of the new generation of dissidents and human rights advocates with U.S. policy makers, officials from other democratic governments, and influential figures from the world of media, think tanks, universities, NGOs, and human rights and freedom of expression activists. The summit will produce an action plan for the Obama Administration, other governments and multilateral institutions in defense of democratic values and fundamental human rights. It will also give government officials the opportunity to hear from activists currently engaged in frontline struggles for freedom and democracy.

Human Rights Research blog

2010-02-11T13:47:00.001-07:00

The Human Rights Research blog is designed to showcase new and current resources for human rights research at the University of Connecticut at Storrs.

Intersection between Access to Knowledge and Human Rights.

2010-02-10T07:00:00.002-07:00

The Information Society Project at Yale Law School has already hosted three major conferences on access to knowledge. These helped to lay intellectual groundwork for theorizing A2K as a framework for public policy and to consolidate a broad international A2K movement.

This year the theme is the intersection between access to knowledge and human rights.

SNCC-50th Anniversary Includes Major Author Program

2010-02-10T05:05:00.004-07:00

To commemorate the April, 1960 founding of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee at Shaw University, Raleigh, NC the Planning Committee is pleased to announce the SNCC 50th Anniversary Conference to be held in Raleigh, North Carolina April 15-18, 2010

SNCC Authors:

1. Robert Zellner – Wrong Side of Murder Creek (2008)
2. Connie Curry – Silver Rights; Mississippi Harmony; Deep in our Hearts: Nine White Women in the Freedom Movement
3. John Lewis – Walking with the Wind
4. Lawrence Guyot and Jenice View – Putting the Movement Back Into Civil Rights Teaching
5. Elizabeth Martinez – Letters from Mississippi (reissued 2008)
6. D’Army Bailey - The Education of A Black Radical; A Southern Civil Rights Activist's Journey, 1959-1964
7. Michele D. Gibbs – Line of Sight (2004)
8. Guy and Candie Carawan – Sing for Freedom: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement Through its Songs (reissued 2008); and "Sing for Freedom: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement through its Songs."
9. Robert P. Moses – Radical Equations Math Literacy and Civil Rights
10. Mary King – Freedom Song
11. Ekwueme Michael Thelwell – Ready for Revolution: The Life and Struggles of Stokely Carmichael (2003)
12. Cleve Sellers – River of No Return
13. Charles Cobb – On the Road to Freedom
14. Peter de Lissovoy - Randy Battle and the Great Pool Jump, and Other Stories of the Civil Rights Movement in Southwest Georgia (2010)
15. Danny Lyon – Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement (reissued 2010)

Books about SNCC:

1. Howard Zinn - SNCC The New Abolitionists In Memoriam
2. John Dittmer – Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi; The Good Doctors: The Medical Committee for Human Rights and the Struggle for Social Justice in Health Care
3. Charles Payne – I've Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle
4. Hasan Kwame Jeffries – Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama's Black Belt
5. Wesley Hogan – Many Minds, One Heart: SNCC's Dream for a New America
6. Barbara Ransby - Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision
7. Cynthia Fleming – Soon we will not cry: The Liberation of Ruby Doris Smith Robinson (1998)
8. Tracy Sugarman – We had Sneakers, They Had Guns: The Kids Who Fought for Civil Rights in Mississippi (2009)
9. Peniel Joseph – Waiting ‘til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America; also, Dark Days, Bright Nights: From Black Power to Barack Obama
10. Andrew B. Lewis – Shadows of Youth: The Remarkable Journey of the Civil Rights Generation (2009) (group biography of selected SNCC activists)
11. William Chafe – Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro NC and the Black Struggle for Freedom
12. Clayborne Carson – In Struggle: SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s
13. Todd Moye – Let the People Decide: Black Freedom and White Resistance Movements in Sunflower County, Mississippi 1945-1986; also, Freedom Flyers: The Tuskegee Airmen of WWII (2010).

All of these authors will be at the “Meet the Authors” program to talk, sign their books, and answer questions. Quail Ridge Books of Raleigh will be handling the sales of the books. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet all these authors who have written about SNCC in one place and to build and add to your personal book collection.

Beaverton City Library Wins Human Rights Award

2010-02-04T06:28:00.002-07:00

The choice for the organizational award was the Beaverton City Library. The library was recognized as "a warm welcoming place for all people" and was also cited for its sponsorship of events celebrating various cultures

The Human Rights Advisory Commission was created by ordinance to the Beaverton City Code on April 12, 1993.
The general purpose of the commission is to help the citizens and government in the City of Beaverton to achieve the goal of embracing and celebrating diversity, eliminating bigotry, and enhancing a sense of community. If a citizen would like to file a complaint about their rights being violated, there is a complaint process and form that can be used:

Lisa Spieker Honored with Pathfinder Award

2010-01-24T17:36:00.002-07:00

A college librarian, a high school English teacher, a Somali student and a coffee shop are this year’s Mankato recipients of Pathfinder Awards.

The annual citations presented Wednesday by the Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Board recognize individuals and organizations that, in the spirit of King, are action takers in the struggle for equal treatment, human rights, and nonviolence.

Lisa Spieker said she broke down in tears when informed of her selection. The Rasmussen College librarian was cited for her work with the college’s diversity committee and her untiring devotion to educating the campus and community through displays, speaker panels and open discussions based on books and movies.

“Lisa sets an air and expectation of tolerance and respect from staff and students,” board members said. “(She) has created a culture where people can ask questions, respect and be respected, and learn from each other.”

Encyclopedia of Human Rights wins Dartmouth Medal

2010-01-19T05:26:00.002-07:00

Encyclopedia of Human Rights (Oxford University Press) is the recipient of the 2010 Dartmouth Award, a prestigious honor bestowed annually by the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) upon a reference work of outstanding quality and significance published in the previous calendar year.

The Encyclopedia of Human Rights was selected for its comprehensive coverage of a timely and important topic. As a major contribution to the literature of human rights, this harrowing but important work chronicles the advances in the human rights movement from 1945 to the present, including such recent issues as the right to health care. Its extensive bibliography and in depth analysis makes this an essential title for all libraries.

Literary works by and about Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

2010-01-19T05:17:00.002-07:00

A few writers, however, have turned their attention to literary works by and about King. Here's a quick roundup.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s final manuscript, "Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?" was written in Jamaica in 1967. Originally published in 1968, "Where Do We Go From Here" was reissued by Beacon Press this month.

Partners in Health-Stand with Haiti

2010-01-16T20:34:00.001-07:00

Top rated by Charity Navigator.
A major earthquake centered just 10 miles from Port-au-Prince has devastated the country. Partners in Health and its partner organization Zanmi Lasante have worked in Haiti for nearly twenty-five years, and today is one of the largest non-governmental health care providers in the country.

As so many feel the helplessness of unfolding events, and knowing that the next few days are essential to saving lives, we urge you to support our efforts. We are unique in what we have to offer, but our ability to continue to be effective depends on you. Please donate now so that we can continue and even expand our already significant efforts.

Human Rights Agenda for the 21st Century-Hillary Rodham Clinton

2009-12-14T18:30:00.002-07:00

Remarks on the Human Rights Agenda for the 21st Century

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Georgetown University's Gaston Hall
Washington, DC
December 14, 2009
=
Clinton, in her speech at Georgetown University, outlined a pragmatic approach toward human rights that would press for democratic principles and development but be flexible in the methods it used to pursue the policy.

"This administration, like others before us, will promote, support and defend democracy," she said. "Democracy has proven the best political system for making human rights a reality over the long term."

Centre for Human Rights Education (ZMRB) at the University of Teacher Education Central Switzerland - Lucerne

2009-12-11T08:01:00.003-07:00

In accordance with the UN-International Year of Human Rights Learning 2009, the first edition of the Journal of Human Rights Education (JHRE) is published.
The goal of the Journal of Human Rights Education (JHRE) is to foster the debate on human rights education as an important contribution to the realization of human rights.We hope that the JHRE will meet your interest, and we are looking forward to your subscription.

The Centre for Human Rights Education (ZMRB) at the University of Teacher Education Central Switzerland - Lucerne (PHZ Lucerne) pursues the aim of placing a higher value on human rights education in the fields of basic and in-service teacher training at both PHZ Lucerne and in schools.
The ZMRB carries out research in the field of human rights education as well as organizing and implementing the annual International Human Rights Forum Lucerne (IHRF).
The ZMRB supports schools in their efforts to include human rights education in the curriculum.
The ZMRB shows teaching staff interrelated cross-curricular themes and evaluates, develops and provides appropriate teaching materials.
The ZMRB offers workshops for companies, administrations etc. providing an introduction to human rights or tackling the specific human rights challenges of the target audience.

News

Navi Pillay:Human Rights Day 2009

2009-12-10T04:43:00.002-07:00

Special Guest Post for Human Rights Day 2009: Navi Pillay

By Navi Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Old and new forms of discrimination and intolerance continue to divide communities all over the world. Sentiments of xenophobia are on the rise. They are often manipulated for demagogic purposes or even for sinister political agendas. Day after day, their corrosive effects undermine the rights of countless victims. This is why today on Human Rights Day, the United Nations is urging everyone everywhere in the world to embrace diversity and end discrimination.

Discrimination can take many forms covert or blatant, public or private. It may appear as institutionalized racism, or ethnic strife, or manifest itself in episodes of intolerance and rejection that escape scrutiny. Its victims are individuals or groups that are most vulnerable to attacks—all those that, due to their race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, status, disabilities, and sexual orientation are perceived as different.

Discrimination is often multilayered. Groups that are marginalized on their basis of their origin or status encounter further exclusion and a curtailment of their rights when they attempt to have the access that international law entitles them to housing, food, health care and education.

Persons with disabilities make up the world’s largest and most disadvantaged minority. For example, 98% of children with disabilities in developing countries do not attend school. Indigenous peoples represent 5% of the world’s population, but 15% of its poorest people. Women account for two-thirds of the world’s working hours and produce half of the world’s food. Yet, due to discrimination and stereotypical gender roles, they earn only 10% of the world’s income and own less than 1% of the world’s property.

History has proved time and again that, when discrimination, inequality and intolerance are allowed to take root, they may shatter the very foundations of societies and damage them for generations. Left unchecked, they may spill across borders and poison relations among nations.

History has also proved that these abhorrent practices have no beneficial aspects whatsoever. Discrimination undermines the social and economic cohesion of societies. It saps their resources. It squanders talent. It marginalizes productive individuals and groups, and depresses their creativity and initiative.

We must counter the bigotry and narrow interests that engender discrimination, and we have done so. The vision of human rights advocates, their sheer determination and energy have paid off by raising awareness among the public and by producing a number of human rights treaties that give effect to anti-discrimination and equality provisions. These treaties create a protective web of obligations that States must fulfill. They restore the dignity previously denied to millions of women, men and children.

Building on this body of norms, in 2001 the World Conference against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in Durban, and its review conference in Geneva last April were convened to address some of the most insidious aspects of discrimination. The latter wrapped up with wide agreement in which 182 States undertook to prevent, prohibit and address all manifestations of racism and intolerance. It re-energized the determination and purpose expressed in Durban to erase the age-old shame of racism and provided a platform for a new beginning in fighting discrimination writ large.

It is undeniable that progress has been remarkable, but we should not pause. Discrimination does not go away by itself. It must be challenged at every turn. We must move forward and move quickly.

We must never lose sight of the fact that the enjoyment of human rights enriches us all. Conversely, when human dignity is undercut or denied by human rights violations, then such abuses affect all of us. This is particularly true in our increasingly multi-ethnic and multicultural societies. It is particularly urgent to counter discrimination in times of crisis, such as the current economic downturn, which have a disproportionate impact on the livelihoods of the most vulnerable and already marginalized groups of society, as competition over dwindling resources exposes minorities to suspicions and attacks.

On this very day in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stated unequivocally that all human beings are born equal in dignity and rights. More than sixty years later, these words resonate with unaltered poignancy. Let us make the Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ principles of equality, freedom and dignity for all a reality everywhere. Universal tolerance and respect for diversity is our goal.

_Examining Tuskegee_ enabled by access to FOIA Records

2009-12-07T04:57:00.005-07:00

Examining Tuskegee: The Infamous Syphilis Study and Its Legacy. Susan M. Reverby.416 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, 22 illus., 4 figs., 5 tables, notes, bibl., index. University of North Carolina Press.
The John Hope Franklin Series in African American History and Culture
ISBN 978-0-8078-3310-0
Published: November 2009

Reverby highlights the many uncertainties that dogged the study during its four decades and explores the newly available medical records. She uncovers the different ways it was understood by the men, their families, and health care professionals, ultimately revising conventional wisdom on the study. [author website for Examining Tuskeegee

My perceptions changed when I read the actual articles and correspondence between the doctors about the study, examined the debates over treatment for syphilis at its various stages, interviewed people in Tuskegee and doctors from the PHS, and then analyzed the men’s medical records that were opened to the public in the National Archives in Morrow, Georgia because of a FOIA filed by historian/librarian Twanna Whorley.

--Susan M. Reverby--Marion Butler McLean Professor in the History of Ideas and Professor of Women's Studies at Wellesley College.

International Day of Persons with Disabilities

2009-12-03T20:48:00.000-07:00

Opening of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, 3 December 2009. The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announces Mr. Stevie Wonder as the new UN Messenger of Peace.

Ghada Elturk Honored with Elise Boulding Peacemaker of the Year Award by The Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center

2009-11-28T21:06:00.002-07:00

Saturday, December 12th, 2009, at the Unity Church of Boulder, Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center Annual Holiday Event-- the presentation of the 2009 Elise Boulding Peacemaker of the Year Award to Ghada Elturk, a tireless advocate for human rights and justice for all people. Ghada is the Outreach Coordinator for the Boulder Public Library. In addition to her exemplary work at the Library, she is an outstanding poet, and works tirelessly for justice, and for the removal of the barriers which keep our community from being inclusive of everyone, and welcoming to all.

Trafficking in Persons Report -2009

2009-11-28T05:48:00.001-07:00

Secretary Clinton (June 16, 2009): "The ninth annual Trafficking in Persons Report sheds light on the faces of modern-day slavery and on new facets of this global problem. The human trafficking phenomenon affects virtually every country, including the United States. In acknowledging America’s own struggle with modern-day slavery and slavery-related practices, we offer partnership. We call on every government to join us in working to build consensus and leverage resources to eliminate all forms of human trafficking."

Archive for Human Rights at Duke University

2009-11-25T06:20:00.004-07:00

The Archive for Human Rights is part of Duke University's Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library. Its mission is to identify, collect, and provide access to materials generated by organizations and individuals working within and having significant impact on the field of human rights. Working in close partnership with the Duke Center for Human Rights, the archive is a key component of Duke University's commitment to social justice, social equality, and social responsibility.

GW Bush Library to Include Human Rights Collections

2009-11-25T06:10:00.003-07:00

"We're going to have a freedom repository, and that is a collection of works by dissidents and political prisoners, current ones, or ones like Vaclav Havel, who will be one of our first contributors to the freedom collection, who led the revolution in Czechoslovakia. And he was jailed as a dissident in Czechoslovakia and then finally became president of the Czech Republic after the dissolution of the Soviet Union."

-- Laura Bush.

End of Poverty? Why Global Poverty?

2009-11-14T06:19:00.002-07:00

The End of Poverty? is a daring, thought-provoking and very timely documentary by award-winning filmmaker, Philippe Diaz, revealing that poverty is not an accident. It began with military conquest, slavery and colonization that resulted in the seizure of land, minerals and forced labor. Today, global poverty has reached new levels because of unfair debt, trade and tax policies -- in other words, wealthy countries exploiting the weaknesses of poor, developing countries.

Official companion book Why Global Poverty?

Reading List.

Human Rights Day 2009.

2009-11-12T05:26:00.002-07:00

“Discrimination lies at the root of many of the world’s most pressing human rights problems. No country is immune from this scourge. Eliminating discrimination is a duty of the highest order.”

Navi Pillay
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Human Rights Day 2009 on 10 December will focus on non-discrimination. “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. These first few famous words of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights established 60 years ago the basic premise of international human rights law. Yet today, the fight against discrimination remains a daily struggle for millions around the globe.

“Our main objective is to help promote discrimination-free societies and a world of equal treatment for all,” says the High Commissioner who this year will mark Human Rights Day in South Africa.

She encourages people everywhere - including the UN family, governments, civil society, national human rights institutions, the media, educators, and individuals - to seize the opportunity of Human Rights Day 2009 to join hands to embrace diversity and end discrimination.

The realisation of all human rights - social, economic and cultural rights as well as civil and political rights – is hampered by discrimination. All too often, when faced with prejudice and discrimination, political leaders, governments and ordinary citizens are silent or complacent.

Yet everyone of us can make a difference. You are encouraged to celebrate Human Rights Day by advocating non-discrimination, organizing activities, raising awareness and reaching out to your local communities on 10 December and throughout 2010.