Human Rights

Cubans free to leave island

Submitted by news on Wed, Jan 16, 2013 - 12:04pm
As of Monday, citizens of Cuba no longer need exit visas or invitations from a resident of a foreign country in order to travel abroad, a rule that kept many from leaving the communist island for decades.

The policy shift came as President Raul Castro takes steps to open up the economy, beginning the biggest overhaul since the 1959 revolution led by his brother Fidel.

Cuban analyst Philip Peters said the change is going to have an economic benefit as people can now go abroad to get a degree and come back, or work and send money back.

Racial Feud in Logan

Submitted by news on Wed, Jan 16, 2013 - 11:54am
What started as a dispute over a car being vandalised quickly escalated into a violent fight involving racial issues, resulting in the Aboriginal family moving from Logan to the Gold Coast.

The Briggs family reportedly did not sleep in their Logan home last night, as a riot squad was called in to disperse a crowd of youths on the street, who were brandishing nail-bearing fence palings, rocks and bricks.

Removal trucks arrived at 8.30 this morning for the Briggs family, who received an offer to move by Premier Campbell Newman, along with two other families.

An Aboriginal man and a Pacific Island man were arrested last night.

Child protection inquiry to look at Indigenous over-representation

Submitted by stevenr on Mon, Jan 14, 2013 - 11:26am
Queensland’s child protection inquiry will today examine the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the state’s child protection system.

Up to nine witnesses including indigenous elders, parents, academics and representatives from service and legal providers have been called to give evidence before commissioner Tim Carmody.

Proceedings will open from 10am this morning and will be streamed on the inquiry’s website.

The inquiry was set up on July 1 2012 to judge the adequacy of government responses to allegations of child sexual abuse in youth detention centres, the effectiveness of current oversight and complaint mechanisms and ways to improve public confidence in the system.

Disabled men win court case on paltry pay

Submitted by stevenr on Fri, Jan 11, 2013 - 11:41am
Two disabled men have taken the federal government to court over a workplace assessment tool which saw them earning less than $3 an hour.

Michael Nojin, who has cerebral palsy and an intellectual disability,and Gordon Prior who is legally blind and has a mild intellectual disability were found to have been indirectly discriminated against by two out of three judges in the federal court.

In his judgment Justice John Buchanan said the competency test used to determine their wages had the effect of “discounting even more severely than would otherwise be the case, the remuneration of intellectually disabled workers to whom the tool is applied."

Child Swap: Indonesia

Submitted by news on Wed, Jan 9, 2013 - 1:33pm
Human rights activists were calling for Indonesian officials to stop child trafficking as an advertisement offering two babies for sale was posted online.

The ad appeared on the popular Indonesian shopping website Toko Bagus with the two 18 month olds being offered for 10 million rupiah each.

Secretary of Indonesia's Child Protection Commission Muhummad Ihsan said child trafficking is a big business in the country with at least 270 reports of missing babies or toddlers since 2010.

Police are currently investigating into the advertisement.

Chinese citizens protest for media freedom

Submitted by news on Tue, Jan 8, 2013 - 10:33am
Protesters have gathered at the offices of a Chinese newspaper at the centre of a censorship protest, in a rare public demonstration in support of media freedom in China.

Hundreds marched outside the Southern Weekly’s office in Guangzhou on Monday, after censors blocked a New Year article in the popular liberal newspaper which called for the realisation of a “dream of constitutionalism” in China to protect rights.

All Chinese media organizations are subject to instructions from government propaganda departments which regularly suppress news seen as “negative” by the ruling Communist Party.

FBI surveillance on Occupy protestors revealed

Submitted by stevenr on Mon, Jan 7, 2013 - 12:25pm
The FBI has released internal documents that show it conducted a campaign of surveillance on Occupy protestors since the movement began in September 2011.

The redacted documents were obtained through a freedom of information request by non-profit public interest legal firm Partnership for Civil Justice fund.

They show the FBI passed on information of Occupy protests to banks and finance companies to warn them of what they call an “Anarchist protest”, sometimes also labelling the group as “domestic terrorists”.

Occupy Atlanta protestor Tim Franzen was targeted, with fellow activists being interviewed by FBI agents at their homes about Mr Franzen’s activities and beliefs.

KFC fined for illegal child labour in Perth

Submitted by news on Fri, Dec 21, 2012 - 11:11am
Kentucy Fried Chicken has been fined $30,000 for illegally hiring children under the age of 15 at three of its Perth stores.

The court detailed 153 cases of children working after 10pm, with around a quarter finishing after midnight and 21 preceding school days.

The incidents occurred at KFC’s Ellenbrook, Forrestfield and Rockingham stores.

President of Unions Western Australia Meredith Hammat says the fine is too small for a company the size of KFC to make much of a change.

Julie Bishop defends Tony Abbott on abortion

Submitted by news on Fri, Dec 21, 2012 - 10:54am
Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop is defending Tony Abbott's stance on abortion on the website MamaMia.

Tony Abbott's stance is that abortion should be 'safe, legal and rare', Ms Bishop says in her response to Health Minister Tanya Plibersek.

Ms Plibersek said the Opposition Leader had misrepresented the chief Medical Officer's advice on abortion drug RU486 when he was health minister.

Ms Bishop's response states she's pro-choice and voted in support of the 2006 legislation to remove the ministerial veto.

US marine sentenced for desecrating dead Taliban fighters

Submitted by news on Fri, Dec 21, 2012 - 10:53am
A US marine pleaded guilty to a military judge for desecrating dead Taliban fighters by urinating on them and posing for photographs with them in July 2011.

Staff Sergeant Joseph Chamblin was sentenced to 30 days confinement, reduced rank, reduced pay for six months and fined.

The criminal investigation started in January after a video showing four marines urinating on three dead men.

The case for Staff Sergeant Edward Deptola is pending.

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