Couple Kicked Out of Health Care Center Because They Are Lesbian

ACLU Files Discrimination Lawsuit on Behalf of Couple Kicked Out of Health Care Center Because They Are Lesbian
American Civil Liberties Union

SYRACUSE, NY - The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union filed a discrimination lawsuit today on behalf of a Utica couple kicked out of the wellness program at the Charles T. Sitrin Health Care Center, Inc., because they are lesbian. One of the plaintiffs suffers from severe osteoarthritis and other medical conditions and needs to use the facility’s pool to avoid losing her leg.

"It is shameful that a business that is supposedly committed to improving people’s health would deny this couple access solely because they are lesbians," said Sharon McGowan, a staff attorney for the ACLU’s Lesbian and Gay Rights Project, who is representing the couple. "This kind of discrimination will no longer fly now that sexual orientation discrimination is illegal in New York State."

The New York State anti-discrimination law became effective in 2003. The ACLU believes this is first time the law has been used to bring a legal challenge against a private business for refusing to serve gay people.

Canadian cattlemen's NAFTA challenge over mad cow border closing

Canadian cattlemen's NAFTA challenge over mad cow border closing shows trade model’s assault on consumer safeguards
Public Citizen

In a new report, NAFTA Chapter 11 Investor-State Cases: Lessons for the Central America Free Trade Agreement, Public Citizen describes how Canadian cattle producers are using NAFTA to demand $300 million in compensation from U.S. taxpayer funds, claiming that the Canadian cattle import ban instituted after mad cow disease was found in Canada violates their NAFTA rights. In addition, a Canadian tobacco company is using the private NAFTA tribunals to attack the U.S.tobacco settlements. The report is available here and is being released today at events in Washington, D.C., Sacramento and Olympia, Wash.

WHERE WOULD THE CUTS BE MADE UNDER THE PRESIDENT'S BUDGET?

WHERE WOULD THE CUTS BE MADE UNDER THE PRESIDENT'S BUDGET?
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Bush Administration FY06 Budget—Highlights and Lowlights

Bush Administration FY06 Budget—Highlights and Lowlights
Union of Concerned Scientists

President George W. Bush recently released his comprehensive budget request for fiscal year 2006 (FY06). The administration has slightly reduced funding for the missile defense system and did provide significant cuts in new nuclear weapons requests while allowing for an increase in nuclear nonproliferation programs. And while the administration’s budget for renewable energy resources, clean vehicle tax credits, hydrogen energy research, and cleaner school buses address some of the nation’s energy and transportation needs, it fails to provide the long-term size and scope required to ensure a cleaner, more secure energy future. The Bush budget is also replete with a number of anti-environmental requests. Funding cuts for forest fire protections and endangered species, and a backdoor attempt to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling, are just a few examples of regressive policy initiatives within this budget. UCS will oppose cuts to many of these programs and will seek to support policies for a safer, more sustainable world.

Bush-Putin Summit in Slovakia

Statement from Sam Nunn, Co-Chairman of the Nuclear Threat Initiative,regarding Bush-Putin Summit in Slovakia

Each of the steps Presidents Bush and Putin announced today are important...

Still missing-in-action, but now more possible, is a recognition by Presidents Bush and Putin that their strong leadership is required to bring about:

• Removal of the liability and access obstacles that have proved to be roadblocks to our cooperative threat reduction agenda so we can dramatically accelerate our work to secure nuclear weapons and materials.
• Transparency and accountability for tactical nuclear weapons in both the U.S. and Russian arsenals;
• A process for removing U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear weapons from hair-trigger alert, where they serve more as a grave danger than a deterrent;
• Transparency and cooperation, beginning with the U.S. and Russia, in preventing biological terrorism and the spread of infectious diseases. This must begin with transparency on biological defensive efforts between the U.S. and Russia.
• An acceleration of chemical weapons destruction, which is far behind the agreed-onscheduled.

Note to Bush: Stop the Torture

Note to Bush: Stop the Torture
Foreign Policy in Focus, by Sister Dianna Ortiz

On Thursday, January 20, I listened to George W. Bush take the oath of office as President. He made many promises. One promise he did not make is to end the torture his administration has not only tolerated but facilitated. It left me wondering what his promises to uphold the law and fight for freedom and liberty really mean...

Terrorist Violence in Kuwait

Terrorist Violence in Kuwait
Foreign Policy in Focus

Largely unnoticed with the focus on the war and insurgency in Iraq, and overshadowed by an upsurge in violence in Saudi Arabia, terrorist violence is also on the increase in neighboring Kuwait. The Kuwaiti government had been concerned that the preparations for the invasion of Iraq that began in late 2002 would spur an increase in violent attacks directed at either U.S. or coalition troops. During the run up to the invasion in March 2003 the Kuwaiti government ordered a large area along its border with Iraq vacated, and worked with Americans and others to keep the visibility of foreigners at a low level. In spite of this, there were several violent altercations between locals and individuals associated with military preparations for attacking Iraq. Several persons were injured and at least two died. The attacks were attributed to Kuwaiti “Afghans”—returnees from the wars in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Chechnya. But others also were implicated. A member of the national guard confessed to passing military information to Iraq, planning bomb attacks against utility installations, and plotting to assassinate Kuwaiti officials.

A Carbon Rush at the World Bank

A Carbon Rush at the World Bank
Foreign Policy in Focus

As the Kyoto Protocol comes into force this month, a carbon rush is gaining steam in the financial industry. Investors predict that the carbon trade could become one of the largest markets in the world with a trading volume of $60 - $250 billion by 2008 and some unlikely actors are gearing up to profit from this new, invisible market. Foremost among them is the World Bank.

The Kyoto Protocol requires industrialized country signatories to reduce their emissions by 5.2% below 1990 levels during the 2008-12 commitment period. However, the scientific community has determined that, to avoid dangerous climate change, greenhouse gas emissions reductions of over 60% below 1990 levels were necessary by 2000, rendering the commitments made at Kyoto insufficient. Moreover, some of the largest emitters--the United States and Australia --are not even participating in the protocol. And the Kyoto agreement is weakened further by the fact that virtually all of the emissions reductions required of industrialized nations can be achieved by trading carbon credits between nations, thus avoiding real reductions. For example, since Russia has already met and exceeded the Kyoto targets due to its economic collapse following the fall of the Berlin Wall, Soviet-era ghost emissions are now for sale to the highest bidder, creating the illusion of reductions where none have occurred.

Why is there so much support for carbon trading? Well, there is plenty of money to be made. The average citizen won’t make any; instead, the very same corporations who fuel the problem--the large oil, gas, and coal companies--are among those who will profit from this trade in invisible gases. For instance, just last month, Danish power utility Energi E2 sold hundreds of thousands of dollars of the rights it had been granted free by its government to Shell Oil Company after mild temperatures kept the utility's carbon emissions below expected levels. No such free rights have been granted to ordinary Danish citizens, however.

One institution that is well versed in this complicated market is the World Bank. It was eight years ago that confidential documents1 were leaked to the Institute for Policy Studies from within the bank revealing the early internal debates and plans regarding the World Bank’s involvement in carbon trading.

... [T]he World Bank saw opportunity. One leaked document exposed World Bank plans to profit handsomely by charging a 5% commission on carbon transactions in a self-appointed role as a broker between Northern and Southern governments and industries. (The commission--which the bank now claims is merely to cover costs--will be closer to 8-10%.) With a potential market in CO 2 that could reach $2 billion by 2005, the World Bank noted in the leaked memo, it could quickly earn $100 million in one year--and that was just for starters.

U.S. Dominates World Bank Leadership

U.S. Dominates World Bank Leadership
Foreign Policy in Focus

Right now, there is a vacancy for the most senior post in official world development circles, a job that is of direct interest to billions of people across the globe. The process and candidates are shrouded in secrecy and the only candidates in the running are U.S. citizens.

The Bank’s critics regularly point out the gaps between its rhetoric and reality. But the fact that three White House staffers are responsible for drawing up the short list exposes particularly clearly how tightly the U.S. government controls the institution. Under a gentleman’s agreement from the 1940s the World Bank head and International Monetary Fund (IMF) deputy head are always U.S. citizens, while the head of the IMF is a European. The efforts to open up this system have come to nothing as neither side of the Atlantic has an incentive to be the first to make a change.

Among the early favored candidates on the rumor-mill were Colin Powell, Robert Zoellick, and even Bill Clinton. Powell was clearly out of favor with the Bush administration, however. He was reportedly not offered the Bank as a dignified escape route from State Department. Zoellick took a different career move, and is Condoleezza Rice’s deputy at the State Department. Clinton was always a long-shot under a Republican administration. Some commentators, however, say Bush could achieve a couple of objectives by promoting Clinton for the Bank position. First, it would be a boon for bipartisanship. Second, it might cramp Hillary’s style if she runs for U.S. president in 2008.

As the World Bank succession rumors abound, its credibility suffers.

Meritocracy is absent. There is no clear process for selecting this position of global importance. It is not just outsiders who do not know what is happening. The World Bank Staff Association formally requested an opportunity to feed into the process of selecting a candidate. It was rapidly rebuffed by the alternative U.S. representative on the Bank’s executive board, Bob Holland. Holland , a Bush "pioneer" who raised at least $100,000 for the 2000 election campaign claimed hollowly: "the World Bank's presidential nomination process is being conducted in a fashion that preserves the World Bank's mission of reducing poverty through sustained growth and promoting responsible international development." (Read the letter: http://www.worldbankpresident.org/archives/SA_Holland_Response.jpeg)

New wave of kidnappings increases dangers for journalists in Iraq

New wave of kidnappings increases dangers for journalists in Iraq
Reporters Without Borders

Reporters Without Borders voiced alarm today about a new wave of kidnappings in Iraq after Raeda Wazzan, a presenter with the regional public TV station Iraqiya, was kidnapped yesterday in Mosul, 390 km north of Baghdad, probably with her 10-year-old son.

"With four journalists abducted in less than two weeks and one abortive kidnapping attempt, it is becoming increasingly difficult for both Iraqi and foreign journalists to work in Iraq, especially when they try to report in the field," the press freedom organization said.

"Journalists may under no circumstances be used as bargaining chips, and we call on all sides - the foreign and Iraqi armies and the armed groups - to respect the members of the press as neutral observers of the conflict," Reporters Without Borders added.

Republican House Chooses Special Interests Over American Families

Republican House Chooses Special Interests Over American Families
Statement of Todd A. Smith President, Association of Trial Lawyers of America

"Today President Bush, corporate lobbyists, and special interests are calling the class action bill (S. 5) passed by the House a 'victory'—but it is certainly a defeat for the working families of America.

"This brazen and shameless attack on Americans' legal rights was well-funded by the insurance, drug and other industries. Indeed, the U.S. Chamber of Congress openly acknowledged this week that it spent more than $53 million in 2004 alone on efforts to lobby this bill and others that undermine the legal rights of American families.

"The insurance, tobacco, drug, chemical and other industries that financed the propaganda campaign to force this bill through have also ignored vocal opposition from the National Conference of State Legislatures, 14 state attorneys general, the Conference of Chief Justices, the Federal Judicial Conference and Chief Justice Rehnquist of the United States Supreme Court.

President Bush Should Reconnect with His Party's Roots

President Bush Should Reconnect with His Party's Roots
Association of Trial Lawyers of America

(Friday, February 11, 2005)—The Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA) welcomed the news that President George Bush will attend a performance today of Lincoln: Seen and Heard, in the East Room of the White House. President Bush has always professed that he is proud to be the leader of the Republican Party, which was founded by President Abraham Lincoln—a trial lawyer whose successful pursuit of fair justice for his clients was renowned...

"It is unfortunate that in recent months, President Bush and special-interest groups who are opposed to meaningful legal protections for Americans have orchestrated a smear campaign against trial lawyers and the working families they represent. What's more, corporate lobbyists are spending millions of dollars to force through reckless and harmful legislation during the 109th Congress that would take away the legal protections of American families. It appears that GOP members have forgotten their roots. Abraham Lincoln was a trial lawyer." [ ATLA President Todd Smith]

In Darfur, PHR Team Finds Substantial Evidence of Intentional Destruction of Livelihoods

In Darfur, PHR Team Finds Substantial Evidence of Intentional Destruction of Livelihoods
Physicians for Human Rights

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), reporting today from a three-week assessment in Darfur, called on the UN Security Council to step up security and establish an International Compensation Commission to provide reparations to Darfurians whose livelihoods have been destroyed by the recent conflict.

Focusing on the village of Furawiya in the northern part of West Darfur, PHR documented the full range of loss of livelihoods, including loss of community, economic structures, livestock, food production, wells and irrigation, farming capacity, and household structures. When this detail is applied to the estimated 700-2,000 villages destroyed in Darfur, the scale and cost of livelihood destruction is enormous. From the air and land, the PHR team also photographically documented the utter devastation of dozens of villages in the southern border with Chad.

The findings bolster PHR's genocide assessment from its June 2004 investigation along the Chad/Sudan border that highlighted evidence of an organized attempt to affect group annihilation. In particular, PHR's livelihood study is applicable to Article 6c of the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court which defines genocide as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part."

Philippines: ICRC urges respect for humanitarian law

Philippines: ICRC urges respect for humanitarian law
International Committee of the Red Cross

All too often civilians have suffered directly or indirectly as a result. The recent fighting - the most intense witnessed for some time - began in Sulu Province on the island of Jolo on 7 February; it has led to significant loss of life on both sides and to the displacement of an estimated 27,600 civilians. On 14 February, eight people were reported killed and 150 wounded in bomb attacks in the capital, Manila, and on the island of Mindanao.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) urges the parties to the conflict to respect the basic rules of international humanitarian law enshrined in Article 3 common to the universally accepted 1949 Geneva Conventions and in 1977 Protocol II additional to the Conventions, which the Philippines has ratified, the customary rules on the conduct of hostilities applicable in non-international armed conflicts, and the relevant rules set down in other international treaties...

Azerbaijan: Investigate Death in Custody

Azerbaijan: Investigate Death in Custody
Human Rights Watch

(New York, February 18, 2005)—The Azerbaijani government must conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into the death in custody of a prisoner convicted for his participation in the October 2003 post-election disturbances, Human Rights Watch said today.

On February 17, 20-year-old Algait Magaramov died in prison No.17, where he had been serving a three-year sentence. He was one of 125 people brought to trial on charges relating to violent clashes that erupted between security forces and demonstrators protesting fraud during the presidential election in October 2003.

“This is a tragic ending for a man caught up in a very unfortunate chapter in Azerbaijan's history,” said Rachel Denber, acting executive director of the Europe and Central Asia Division at Human Rights Watch. “It is the duty of the Azerbaijani authorities to find out what happened to this young man.”

Egypt: Mass Arrests, Torture Follow Taba Bombing

Egypt: Mass Arrests, Torture Follow Taba Bombing
Thousands Still Held Incommunicado, But Only Nine Suspects Named
Human Rights Watch

(Cairo, February 22, 2005) The Egyptian state security forces arbitrarily arrested thousands of people and tortured detainees in the wake of the Taba Hilton bombing in October, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Four months later, as many as 2,400 detainees are still being held incommunicado.

The 48 page report, “Mass Arrests and Torture in Sinai,” documents how, in the weeks and months after the bombing that killed 30 people in the resort town of Taba, the State Security Investigation agency conducted mass arrests in northern Sinai without a warrant or judicial order as required by Egyptian law.

The Egyptian authorities have identified only nine suspects as responsible for the Taba attack, but the ministry of interior continues to hold an estimated 2,400 detainees. The government has not released information on the whereabouts of these detainees either to their families or lawyers representing them, and has not indicated if any have been charged with crimes.

B'Tselem calls on the PA to abolish the death penalty

B'Tselem calls on the PA to abolish the death penalty
B'Tselem

On Feb. 17, 2005, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas ratified "scores" of death sentences for Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel or of other criminal charges. B'Tselem called on Abbas to commute the death sentences and abolish the death penalty. Following is the text of the letter:

As I am sure you know, for the past fifteen years, B’Tselem has been one of the most consistent and outspoken defenders of human rights in the Occupied Territories. Since the beginning of the current intifada, B’Tselem has published some forty reports and case studies regarding various aspects of Palestinian human rights. Most recently, we have published reports and conducted advocacy regarding punitive house demolitions, and the use of lethal force by the Israeli military. We have also published reports and conducted advocacy about the discriminatory road regime in the West Bank and the Separation Barrier.

I write you now to express my concern regarding reports in the press that you have ratified death sentences of Palestinians found guilty of "collaboration" with Israel...

Council of Europe: Protect victims of people trafficking

Council of Europe: Protect victims of people trafficking
Amnesty International

Amnesty International and Anti-Slavery International are calling on European countries to focus new anti-trafficking measures on protecting victims - not just national borders.

The call comes as a drafting group of representatives of the 46 Council of Europe member states (known as the CAHTEH) are due to begin their last meeting in Strasbourg on 22 February to finalise the draft European Convention Against Trafficking in Human Beings.

"The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has already set out a blueprint for a convention that will focus on protecting the rights of trafficked people. Council of Europe member states must set a high standard when it comes to protecting trafficked peoples' rights - rather than settling for the lowest common denominator standards," said Mary Cunneen, Director of Anti-Slavery International, which has been working to eradicate slavery for over 160 years...

In particular, Amnesty International and Anti-Slavery International call on CAHTEH to ensure that the European Convention against Trafficking requires that:

• trafficked persons are given access to necessary medical assistance;
• a minimum recovery and reflection period of at least 3 months is offered to all trafficked persons, and that the person's presence in the country is regularized and recognized during this time;
• minimum 6 months-renewable and permanent residence permits are issued to trafficked persons on the basis of the needs and risks of their personal situation and/or to ensure their presence during proceedings (against the traffickers and/or for compensation), and family reunification is available;
• trafficked persons are not detained, charged, or prosecuted for illegal entry or residence and activities which are a direct consequence of their situation as trafficked persons.

Iraqi women - the need for protective measures

Iraqi women - the need for protective measures
Amnesty International

Iraqi women must have an active role in shaping the future of their country, a new report by Amnesty International said today. Iraqi authorities must take effective measures to protect women and to change discriminatory legislation that encourages violence against them.

Women and girls in Iraq live in fear of violence. The current lack of security has forced many women out of public life and constitutes a major obstacle to the advancement of their rights. Since the 2003 war, armed groups have targeted and killed several female political leaders and women's rights activists. The report Iraq: Decades of suffering - Now women deserve better documents how women and girls in Iraq have been targeted directly, because they were women, and how they suffered disproportionately through decades of government repression and armed conflict.

"Iraqi authorities must introduce concrete measures to protect women," said Abdel Salam Sidahmed, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International. "They must send a clear message that violence against women will not be tolerated by investigating all allegations of abuse against women and by bringing those responsible to justice, no matter what their affiliation."

Three wars and more than a decade of economic sanctions have been particularly damaging to Iraqi women. Under the government of Saddam Hussain, they were subjected to gender-specific abuses, including rape and other forms of sexual violence, or else targeted as political activists, relatives of activists or members of certain ethnic or religious groups.

The report demonstrates how gender discrimination in Iraqi laws contributes to the persistence of violence against women. Many women remain at risk of death or injury from male relatives if they are accused of behaviour held to have brought dishonour on the family.

Detainee Coerced Into Dropping Charges of Abuse Before Release

Detainee Coerced Into Dropping Charges of Abuse Before Release
ACLU

NEW YORK--The American Civil Liberties Union today released files obtained from the Army revealing previously undisclosed allegations of abuse by U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Among the documents are reports that a detainee who was beaten and seriously injured was forced to drop his claims in order to be released from custody.
"The torture of detainees is too widespread and systemic to be dismissed as the rogue actions of a few misguided individuals," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "The American public deserves to know which high-level government officials are ultimately responsible for the torture conducted in our name."