Rosalind McKenna has been campaigning for Ireland to become party to the Optional Protocol for the last three years. (c) Amnesty International
By Rosalind McKenna, Coordinator, Human Rights in Ireland Programme, Amnesty International Ireland,
Three years on from its adoption, the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights needs five more countries to become parties to it before it comes into force. Rosalind McKenna, Amnesty International Ireland’s Human Rights in Ireland Coordinator, reflects on three years of campaigning – and the progress that is being made.
“We hope to be in a position to sign the Optional Protocol to the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights before the end of this year.” So spoke Ireland’s Justice Minister at the Human Rights Council on 6 October, to the delight of myself and everyone else who has been campaigning for this. Continue reading ‘Protecting economic, social and cultural rights in Ireland – and internationally’
Every day, countless people are forcibly evicted without legal safeguards © Nora Lindström
By Meghna Abraham, Head of the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Team at Amnesty International
You come home in the evening, after a long day’s work. Your children are sitting at a table, finishing their homework. Suddenly, some government officials arrive with a bulldozer to demolish your home.
You may have had a week’s notice, or a day or none at all. You did not have enough time to legally challenge the eviction or even to make a list of the belongings which you may lose.
Continue reading ‘Human rights live here – stopping forced evictions worldwide’
The UN Security Council meets to discuss the situation in Syria today © Demotix
By Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International
Majd Al Kurdy was a junior member of Syria’s ruling Baath party in the small town of Tell Kalakh near the border with Lebanon.
One day in May, at an anti-government demonstration, he took a megaphone and announced to the crowd “I announce my resignation from the corrupt Ba’th Party!”
Continue reading ‘UN Security Council must act to end repression in Syria’
قلة من الحكومات تقول إنها ترغب في وقف تدفق الأسلحة غير المشروعة © UN Photo/Albert Gonzalez Farran
بقلم ألفيا كوياب، مسؤولة بقسم الاتصالات على الشبكة في منظمة العفو الدولية
جميع الحكومات تقول إنها ترغب في وقف تدفق الأسلحة غير المشروعة، ولكنك بالاستماع إلى العديد منها اليوم في الأمم المتحدة، تدرك أن عدد من يريدون حقاً أن يفعلوا شيئاً مفيداً ليس بالكثير
وسبب هذا أن المعاهدة سوف تنطوي على شفافية أكثر بكثير بشأن سبل إبلاغهم عن عمليات نقل الأسلحة، وهذا يقض على الفور مضاجع الحكومات
