Are we moving fast enough in Haiti?

There will be a hearing of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, to be held in Room 2172 of the Rayburn House Office Building (and available live, via the WEBCAST link on the Committee website at http://www.hcfa.house.gov):

DATE:	Thursday, July 29, 2010
TIME:	9:30 a.m.
SUBJECT:	The Crisis in Haiti: Are We Moving Fast Enough?
WITNESSES:	Panel I The Honorable Rajiv Shah Administrator United States Agency for International Development Panel II Mr. Samuel A. Worthington President and CEO InterAction Mr. Jimmy Jean-Louis Actor Goodwill Ambassador Pan American Development Foundation

Rep. Johnson calls on Colombian government to protect activist: “The world is watching”

WASHINGTON – Congressman Hank Johnson (D-GA) dispatched Latin American affairs adviser Sascha Thompson to Colombia February 8-15 to participate in an international pre-electoral observation mission sponsored by the California-based non-governmental organization Global Exchange.

Ms. Thompson joined 22 public policy professionals, analysts and citizens of more than seven countries including the United States, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and Mexico.

The mission was tasked with assessing the capacity of the Colombian electoral process to yield a fair, legitimate and democratic result. Their assessment relied upon information assembled from interviews with individuals in the Colombian government and Colombian civil society. The mission met with Colombian electoral officials, the National Electoral Council, the National Registry for Civil Status, local leaders, activists, prosecutors, officials from human rights ombudsman offices, and departmental governors.

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UN: migrants too often victims of human rights violations

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights marked International Migrants Day today by drawing attention to the plight of an estimated 200 million migrants worldwide, many of whom are exposed to violations of their basic rights and continue to be treated as commodities.

“Despite the increased efforts of the international community, including civil society, in promoting sound, equitable, humane and lawful conditions of migration, the human rights of migrants often remain out of sight,” Navi Pillay said in a statement.

UN human rights council to discuss Sri Lanka

IRIN reports today that

Human rights groups have welcomed a decision by the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) to address the condition of more than a quarter of a million conflict-displaced in Sri Lanka in a special session.

“This is an important opportunity to examine issues of accountability on both sides to the conflict and to ensure protection of displaced persons and their rights in the post-conflict transition,” Julie de Rivero, Geneva advocacy director for Human Rights Watch (HRW), told IRIN, one day before the session was due in Geneva.

On 25 May, the watchdog group said government restrictions on humanitarian access to government camps and to the wounded in the conflict area had worsened the already serious conditions.

Pope calls for promotion of human rights

Zenit reports that Pope Benedict XVI is urging members of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences to defend and promote those “non-negotiable human rights” that are based in God’s law.

The Pope said this Monday in an audience with academy members, who are gathered in the Vatican through Tuesday for their plenary session, which is focused on the theme of Catholic social doctrine and human rights.

The Pontiff underlined the Church’s stance that “fundamental rights, above and beyond the different ways in which they are formulated and the different degrees of importance they may have in various cultural contexts, are to be upheld and accorded universal recognition because they are inherent in the very nature of man, who is created in the image and likeness of God.”

Read the full story on Zenit here.

Congress studies Sri Lanka crisis

Voice of America reports that yesterday the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission held a meeting to discuss of the military conflict in Sri Lanka and what the United Nations and human rights groups call a dire humanitarian situation.