Ontario amends Human Rights Code to extend protections to transgender people

BY KEITH LESLIE, CANADIAN PRESS JUNE 13, 2012

TORONTO — Ontario’s Human Rights Code was updated Wednesday for the first time since the 1980s to extend protections to transgender people, something Manitoba was expected to do Thursday.

Members of all three parties in Ontario’s legislature voted to amend the code to add the terms “gender identity” and “gender expression” to prevent discrimination against transgender people.

It was the first change to the code since it was amended to add the words “sexual orientation” to protect gays and lesbians.

New Democrat Cheri DiNovo, who tried for six years to amend the code with three previous private member’s bills, called the vote historic, and said it would prevent discrimination against transgender people looking for a job or a place to live.

“A long time coming, but it’s a very good day,” a beaming DiNovo told reporters after the vote.

“There’s a whole host of things that will be opened up for trans people because of this, and really this recognizes them simply as humans, with all the rights of every other human in Ontario.”

A similar amendment to Manitoba’s Human Rights Code to include gender identity was expected to pass into law Thursday.

The Ontario legislation was called Toby’s Act, in honour of the late musician Toby Dancer, who led the choir at the Toronto United Church where DiNovo was a minister before she became a member of provincial parliament.

A large percentage of transgender people attempt suicide and nearly half live below the poverty line, which DiNovo said shows they are a marginalized and vulnerable community in need of the same protections from discrimination as everyone else.

Liberal Yasir Naqvi, a co-sponsor of the all-party bill, said politicians thought they had covered all the bases when they amended the code in the 1980s to protect homosexuals.

“We thought at that time that by just adding “sexual orientation” we were covering all kinds of people, but we recognized soon after that was not the case, that we had excluded members of the trans community,” Naqvi told the legislature during third reading debate.

“Today, we’re taking that very important historic step forward by adding gender identity and gender expression ... so that no human being is left outside the scope, the protection, of the Ontario Human Rights Code.”

Deputy Progressive Conservative Leader Christine Elliott, the other co-sponsor, said DiNovo’s persistence on the issue helped persuade her colleagues about the need to protect transgender people.

“We have been educated in this process, and we have a much deeper understanding of some of the things that people in the trans community go through,” Elliott told the legislature.

“That’s why we’re here today, to make sure that we amend our Human Rights Code to properly reflect the need to protect the rights of everyone in our society, and that’s what this is all about.”

DiNovo credited the fact Ontario now has a minority government that makes it easier to get opposition bills brought forward for debate for her success in finally getting Toby’s Act passed into law.

“This shows minority government working as I think the electorate wants it to work, which is to work together,” she said.

Ontario is the first major jurisdiction in North America to provide human rights protections for transgender people. The Northwest Territories passed a similar bill, and DiNovo expects other provinces and American states to soon follow suit.

“The reality is this is very exciting, and I’m already getting calls from New York state, from North Carolina, so hopefully it starts a wave of moves across jurisdictions for trans,” said DiNovo.

© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

Source:http://www.canada.com/news/Ontario+amends+Human+Rights+Code+extend+protections+transgender+people/6776765/story.html

WHAT IS GENOCIDE?

THE TERM "GENOCIDE"

The term "genocide" did not exist before 1944. It is a very specific term, referring to violent crimes committed against groups with the intent to destroy the existence of the group. Human rights, as laid out in the US Bill of Rights or the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, concern the rights of individuals.

In 1944, a Polish-Jewish lawyer named Raphael Lemkin (1900-1959) sought to describe Nazi policies of systematic murder, including the destruction of the European Jews. He formed the word "genocide" by combining geno-, from the Greek word for race or tribe, with -cide, from the Latin word for killing. In proposing this new term, Lemkin had in mind "a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves." The next year, theInternational Military Tribunal held at Nuremberg, Germany,charged top Nazis with "crimes against humanity." The word “genocide” was included in the indictment, but as a descriptive, not legal, term.

THE CRIME OF GENOCIDE

On December 9, 1948, in the shadow of the Holocaust and in no small part due to the tireless efforts of Lemkin himself, the United Nations approved the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. This convention establishes "genocide” as an international crime, which signatory nations “undertake to prevent and punish.” It defines genocide as:

[G]enocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

While many cases of group-targeted violence have occurred throughout history and even since the Convention came into effect, the legal and international development of the term is concentrated into two distinct historical periods: the time from the coining of the term until its acceptance as international law (1944-1948) and the time of its activation with the establishment of international criminal tribunals to prosecute the crime of genocide (1991-1998). Preventing genocide, the other major obligation of the convention, remains a challenge that nations and individuals continue to face.

"This article is taken from the website of 'United States Holocaust Memorial Museum" for detail information on Genocide Studies you can refer to http://www.ushmm.org

Riot-hit western Burma province in state of emergency

Burma's president Thein Sein has announced a state of emergency in the western state of Rakhine, following a week of attacks in the area.

A spate of violence involving Buddhists and Muslims has left seven people dead and hundreds of properties damaged.

Trouble flared after the murder of a Buddhist woman last month, followed by an attack on a bus carrying Muslims.

Officials announced a curfew in four towns in the state earlier, expressing concerns about further clashes.

A state of emergency essentially allows the military to take over administrative control of the region.

State television said the order was in response to increasing "unrest and terrorist attacks" and "intended to restore security and stability to the people immediately".

President Thein Sein said the violence could put the country's moves towards democracy in danger.

"If we put racial and religious issues at the forefront, if we put the never-ending hatred, desire for revenge and anarchic actions at the forefront, and if we continue to retaliate and terrorise and kill each other, there's a danger that (the troubles) could multiply and move beyond Rakhine," he said.

"If this happens, the general public should be aware that the country's stability and peace, democratisation process and development, which are only in transition right now, could be severely affected and much would be lost."

A nominally civilian government was elected in 2010 and, in April this year, opposition politicians led by Aung San Suu Kyi entered Burma's parliament following historic by-elections.

However, the government is still dominated by the military and concerns over political repression and human rights abuses continue.

The violence began on 4 June when a mob attacked a bus in Taungup, Rakhine province, apparently mistakenly believing some of the passengers were responsible for the earlier rape and murder of a Buddhist woman.

The suspected perpetrators were later arrested in the town of Ramree in the far south of the province and are now on trial.

Ten Muslims died in the attack, which led to rioting in Maung Daw and Buthidaung townships on Friday and attacks on Buddhist properties.

According to state media, the rioting left at least seven people dead and 17 wounded.

Rakhine state is named for the ethnic Rakhine Buddhist majority but also has a sizeable Muslim population, including the Rohingya minority.

The Rohingya are a Muslim ethnic group and are stateless, as Burma considers them to be illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.

Source:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18384929

Forty-eight women raped every hour in Congo, study finds

Research shows 12% of the country's women have been raped at least once, and the crisis is not confined to conflict areas

• Jo Adetunji
• guardian.co.uk, Thursday 12 May 2011 16.39 BST

A rape victim in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The scale of rape has led some to define the conflict as "a war against women". Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

About 48 women are raped in the Democratic Republic of the Congoevery hour, a study has claimed.

The study, due to be published in the American Journal of Public Health in June, found sexual abuse was rampant not only in conflict areas but also in the home, with nearly one woman subjected to some form of sexual abuse every minute.

The DRC has been racked by war, with rapes widely documented in theconflict-hit east of the country. However, the study suggests the problem is bigger and more pervasive than previously thought, and goes further in documenting domestic sexual abuse.

It found 1,152 women are raped every day – a rate equal to 48 per hour. That rate is 26 times more than the previous estimate of 16,000 rapes reported in one year by the United Nations.

"Not only is sexual violence more generalised, but our findings suggest that future policies and programmes should focus on abuse within families," the study's researchers said.

The study, carried out by three public health researchers from the International Food Policy Research Institute at Stony Brook University in New York, and the World Bank, was partly financed by the US government and based on figures from a nationwide household survey of 3,436 Congolese women aged 15 to 49 in 2007.

The figures showed 12% of women had been raped at least once and 3% of women across the country were raped between 2006 and 2007. About 22% had also been forced by their partners to have sex or perform sexual acts against their will. The study also revealed alarming levels of sexual abuse in the capital, Kinshasa.

The UN has called the country the centre of rape as a weapon of war. Commentators have also described Congo as the worst place on Earth to be a woman.

Over the past 15 years, civilians have been drawn into the conflict, which has been driven by a weak government and rich mineral resources, often in remote, forest-covered areas.

The highest levels of rape were found in North Kivu, an eastern province ravaged by conflict, where nearly 7% of women were raped at least once between 2006 and 2007, according to the study.

Comprehensive statistics on rape in the DRC have been difficult to collate, although widespread anecdotal evidence has been collected on atrocities.

There have been many reports and witness accounts of the gang rape of young girls and elderly women by armed militia, and also accounts of men being raped. Because of the stigma of rape, many married women find themselves abandoned by their husbands.

"There are two big surprises in the study," said Anthony Gambino, a former mission director for the US Agency for International Development in the Congo.

"First, the magnitude of the problem – rates of rape that are much higher than seen elsewhere. And second, that these alarming, shockingly high rape statistics are found in western Congo as well as northern and eastern Congo."

Gambino said 40 years of "steady economic and political decline" may explain the high incidence of rape in the DRC.

While the authors have extrapolated their figures to show that as many as 1.8 million women out of the country's population of 70 million people have been raped, with up to 433,785 raped in a one-year period, some have urged more caution in the interpretation of the figures and their date.

Michael VanRooyen, the director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, which has sent doctors to Congo to treat rape victims, said there were "some limitations in the methodology, such as the sampling methods and the sample sizes" of the new rape study.

But, he said, "the important message remains: that rape and sexual slavery have become amazingly commonplace in this region of the DRC and have defined this conflict as a war against women".

However, Michelle Hindin, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who specialises in gender-based violence, said that because the figures were collected during face-to-face interviews – where women could be less forthcoming – the figures could be much higher.

Margot Wallstrom, the UN special representative for sexual violence in conflict, said the figures in the study were higher than the UN's because they covered all sexual violence, including domestic and by known partners.

She said UN figures tended to be conservative because they had to be verified by the UN itself. "The number of reported violations are just the tip of the iceberg of actual incidents," she added.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/12/48-women-raped-hour-congo

Another story of hatred.

Congo Soldier's perception of "Rape" as a weapon- Shame

Understanding "World Peace Day" - September 21

Peace for All -All for Peace

The International Day of Peace ("Peace Day") provides an opportunity for individuals, organizations and nations to create practical acts of peace on a shared date. It was established by a United Nations resolution in 1981 to coincide with the opening of the General Assembly. The first Peace Day was celebrated in September 1982.

In 2002 the General Assembly officially declared September 21 as the permanent date for the International Day of Peace.By creating the International Day of Peace, the UN devoted itself to worldwide peace and encouraged all of mankind to work in cooperation for this goal. During the discussion of the U.N. Resolution that established the International Day of Peace, it was suggested that:

"Peace Day should be devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples…This day will serve as a reminder to all peoples that our organization, with all its limitations, is a living instrument in the service of peace and should serve all of us here within the organization as a constantly pealing bell reminding us that our permanent commitment, above all interests or differences of any kind, is to peace."

Since its inception, Peace Day has marked our personal and planetary progress toward peace. It has grown to include millions of people in all parts of the world, and each year events are organized to commemorate and celebrate this day. Events range in scale from private gatherings to public concerts and forums where hundreds of thousands of people participate.

Anyone, anywhere can celebrate Peace Day. It can be as simple as lighting a candle at noon, or just sitting in silent meditation. Or it can involve getting your co-workers, organization, community or government engaged in a large event. The impact if millions of people in all parts of the world, coming together for one day of peace, is immense.

International Day of Peace is also a Day of Ceasefire – personal or political. Take this opportunity to make peace in your own relationships as well as impact the larger conflicts of our time. Imagine what a whole Day of Ceasefire would mean to humankind.

(internationaldayofpeace.org)

A Dreamless Night - "Being Human"

How far is Peace ? 

Year 1991-1992. A surprising year for the state of Assam. I was 13 years old than unaware of the political happenings. My daily routine used to include school, little bit study and a lot of cricket. That night I slept off without having my dinner as I was too tired. When I opened my eyes in the middle of the night I saw 3 Army jawans standing near my bed and other two were checking each and everything in the house throwing lot of things here and there. I was wondering who these guys are and why they are in here at this hour and why are they treating us like criminals? My parents were very scared as they have never faced such kind of situation before. After the raid is over my parents went out to see what exactly the scene outside. They took me along. The picture outside was shocking and I am back to my senses. Hundreds of army jawans were busy doing their duties. Each and every house in our locality was charged. Most of the young guys were taken to the army camps for interrogation. Being a kid I was just wondering .The feel good factor in that situation was that a jawan patrolling outside saw me and came to me and kissed me and than gave me packet of biscuit and that’s when I felt like a “Real Hero” among all. It was the most wired night of my life.

For next couple of days my whole town was dead. Many young guys from the surrounding village areas were taken to the camp and most of them never returned to their sweet home. Many were crippled. I started taking interest in listening to the talks and discussions of the aged people and started reading news paper to understand what exactly was happening.

The word “Rape” became a common topic of discussion. I was completely unknown at that age about this kind of hated Weapon of The Indian Armed Forces I was asked to leave the place wherever a group of people intended to talk about this topic. This word troubled me a lot. What is it? Why people sent me out when they talk about it? Etc etc. Finally I decided to ask my father about it as I couldn’t resist my curiosity. When asked, he politely replied “Son, this is not your age to understand this. There is a right time for everything”.

It was an Army operation named “Operation Rhino” by Indian Government to chase down the ULFA militants in Assam.  It’s now been 3 decades and things have not changed much in Assam & other north-eastern states of India. Attack and counter attack between the Arm forces and terrorist organizations have paralyzed the region. One can imagine the life of a man in that situation for 3/4 decades. Universal Declaration of Human Rights ; United Nations Charter, Indian constitution’s guarantee on human rights are still far away to  reach out to the region and do justice.

Woman rights and security is still a far cry in the largest democracy of the world call “India”. Instances of rape have continued unabated ever since women were first raped by CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) men in North Kamrup district in Assam in 1983 when the state was under President's rule.

I still look at this situation with the same eyes of wonder. Is it really impossible to bring peace to this war prone world? Is human right a failure concept? Isn’t “Being Human” is the only solution to the entire problem?

A story of an Infamous female Assasin - “Irma Grese”-(WW-II)

While browsing through couple of pages related to “Holocaust Studies” today I found a name which is not in the list of ‘popular names’ associated with the World War II. “Irma Grese”. Sounds like a normal German name. But Irma Grese was one the most notorious of the female Nazi war criminals and was one of the relatively small numbers of women who had worked in the concentration camps that were hanged for war crimes by the Allies. She became the youngest woman executed under British jurisdiction in the 20th century and was also the youngest of the concentration camp guards to be hanged.

Irma's early childhood was pretty humble and unassuming. She was born on October 7th, 1923 to an agricultural family. She left school at the age of 15 and had various jobs in farming, retail, and nursing.

Irma was captivated by Hitler and joined a Nazi youth group. She was later sent to Ravensbruck which was used to train female SS guards. Here she became a camp guard. She was then transferred to Auschwitz where in 1943 she became the senior SS-supervisor which is the second-highest rank a female camp guard could have. In this position she had virtually complete control of over 30, 000 female prisoners. 

Many survivors provide extensive accounts of the murders, beatings, and tortures that Irma engaged in. She was known for her arbitrary shooting of prisoners, sexual excesses, cruelty and her unrelenting half starved dogs that she would unleash on the prisoners. She habitually wore heavy boots and carried a whip and a pistol. She was alleged to have used both physical and emotional methods to torture the camp's inmates and seemed to enjoy shooting prisoners in cold blood. It was claimed that she beat some of the women to death and whipped others mercilessly using a plaited cellophane whip. Survivors reported that she seemed to derive great sexual pleasure from these acts of sadism. 

She was thought to be held accountable for nearly 30 murders a day. These atrocities continued in the Bergen-Belsen camp where she was transferred in 1945 (link to Bergen-Belsen page). When Bergen-Belsen was liberated, there were three human lampshades found in her quarters.She habitually wore heavy boots and carried a whip and a pistol. 
It has been said that Nazism replaced this young girl's normal sex life and that her sexuality manifested itself in the brutal and sadistic treatment of her female prisoners. But for the conditions of war prevailing at this time in her life, one wonders whether Irma would have kept her sexual/sadistic impulses contained or just acted them out in sexual fantasies with her partner. She may well have grown up and become a respectable citizen, wife and mother had she lived under normal peacetime conditions.

Irma, for all intents and purposes could have grown up to be a perfectly normal woman, not a torturing murder. She fully adopted the anti-Semitic rhetoric and even referred to her prisoners as "dreck" or trash, sub-humans. Also, in her defense statement, we can see that she felt she was following orders and that they should bear the brunt of the responsibility. This girl was corrupted at a young age by what she heard from Hitler and learned in her nazi youth group, and by the extreme amount of power placed in her hands at the young age of 19. Does this mean that she is exempt from blame? That she was a pawn in the Nazi Regime? These questions are difficult to answer and may never be able to be given a complete one-sided answer, but it is interesting to try to understand how a quiet farmers daughter grows up to be one of the most villainous female guards known today.

It is clear that she accepted her fate with great courage - perhaps she felt she was dying for her country - almost a form of martyrdom - perhaps she felt that it was the best way out for her as Germany had lost the war. Irma's only defense during the trial was that "Himmler is responsible for all that has happened but I suppose I have as much guilt as the others above me". Irma was sentenced to death and was hanged on December 13th, 1945.

--Ractim-(info collected from multiple Sources)

White far-right extremism – A sudden volcanic erruption in Norway

What happened in Norway still shook me to the core. Still not able understand WHY?

This is becoming a common tendency of delinquent youths (?) mostly in developed countries. I have been studying about Anders (Anders Behring Breivik) from last 3 days and following up on the issue.

Is this really an act to check multi-culturalism in Norway or to free Europe from immigrants by 2083 or to protect Christianity?
He posted his online 1,516-page manifesto titled, "2083 – A European Declaration of Independence', to around 5300 people, published on the day of the attacks. This is indicative of his well-organized approach towards horrifying act. He, in his manifesto also appreciated the superior organizational structure of -al-Qaeda- and commented that "If Muhammad was alive today; Usama Bin Laden would have been his second in command." Balancing the same tone , he further stated himself as "a real European hero", "the savior of Christianity" and "the greatest defender of cultural-conservatism in Europe since 1950".

Now the greatest question for us is – “ Should we take it as a normal act of crime or go little deeper and try to understand the psychology behind it ? ”

History is flooded with bloody racial massacres. World has changed but we must admit that we are still the same in certain areas of human behabhiour.when it comes to religion, race , color etc. we become ‘cacophonus’. Norway massacre is just an another example of it. Killing of a Indian student in a country of “so-called superior race” and drawing a swastik sign near his body signifies what ??? Isn’t it same as what Hitler did and made mankind shame ???

As long as my thinking is concern I can never accpet the Masscre of Norway is a one man show by Anders in real sesnse.A well organisation approach,a full proof plan and without a proper comman this would not have been possible to executive in such a finest (??) manner. If this is so , than the day is close when the world will agin suffer from racial agonies.

The number of incidents of far right extrimism in different parts of the world in the recent past is not something to be ignored. The rate of world population migration in last 2 decades is remarkable. The mixing up of cultures, religions, values and at the same time the fear of losing the real existence & identity of the “People of welcoming soil” surprisingly gives birth to the so-called “saviors " like Anders Behring Breivik.

I really don't know why and when & how did I get involved to this issue so deeply. May be I know something is there which is of extremely serious nature and it has not yet emerged to the world as an open threat. When suspicion becomes a reality it eventually becomes an eye opener to look carefully towards the future.

May time prevent the re-emerge of The Klan (Ku Klux Klan/ KKK).

The world is already sick enough!!!