Tag Archives: human rights violations

May 4, 2025 · 1:00 am

Barred from School

Young Afghan girl coloring at Bagram Air Field on International Women’s Day, Source https://www.dvidshub.net/, Author Spc. Kristina Gupton (PD as work of US federal govt.)

Afghanistan is the only nation where women and girls are barred from secondary and higher education. 

According to a January 2025 report by the Afghanistan Centre for Human Rights, Islamic madrasas (which focus on religious education) are being used to indoctrinate the women and girls seeking whatever limited education they may obtain there [1].  Textbooks approved by the Taliban promote its political and military goals, along with enforcing wearing of the hijab. 

A few madrasas do now teach languages, mathematics, geography, chemistry, and physics.  However, all medical training for women has been banned, including midwifery and first aid.

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[1]  BBC, “Teenage Afghan girls were banned from school – now these classes are their only option” by Mahjooba Nowrouzi, 3/24/25, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c36wyzl3n00o?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us.

The “Take It Down” Act has been passed, making the non-consensual publishing or posting of intimate imagery involving deepfakes or revenge porn a federal crime.

See, https://apnews.com/article/take-it-down-deepfake-trump-melania-first-amendment-741a6e525e81e5e3d8843aac20de8615.

…

Actor/comedian/podcaster Brandon Russell has been charged with oral rape, sexual assault, and indecent assault in the UK stemming from incidents involving 4 different women alleged to have occurred between 1999 and 2005. 

A civil suit has, also, been brought against Russell in the US for alleged sexual assault on the set of the film “Arthur” in 2011.

See, https://abcnews.go.com/International/russell-brand-charged-rape/story?id=120485133 and https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/nov/04/russell-brand-faces-sexual-assault-lawsuit-in-new-york for details.

FOR MORE OF MY ARTICLES ON POVERTY, POLITICS, AND MATTERS OF CONSCIENCE CHECK OUT MY BLOG A LAWYER’S PRAYERS AT: https://alawyersprayers.com

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Filed under Abuse of Power, Child Abuse, Child Molestation, domestic abuse, domestic violence, Emotional Abuse, Neglect, Physical Abuse, Sexual Abuse

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April 14, 2024 · 1:00 am

Kidnapped Ukrainian Children

File:Victims of War in Ukraine - Kyiv Hospital - Exhibition by Still Miracle Photography 03.jpg

Ukrainian child’s drawing of a tank from “Faces of War:  The Human Factor” (2015 London photography exhibit), Author Still Miracle Photography (CC BY-SA 4.0 International)

The war in Ukraine is disproportionately impacting Ukraine’s children.  At least 30,000 have been kidnapped and deported to Russia [1][2].  Fears are that the number is far higher.  Russia is refusing to disclose information about these children.

This mass deportation is being called cultural genocide, a deliberate effort to destroy the Ukrainian people [3].

Russia’s goal is to brainwash and weaponize these children, who are apparently assembled in camps before deportation and pressured to submit [4].

Children are told by Russian teachers and psychologists that their families will not come for them.  They are threatened that their medication will be withheld, if they do not obey.  Some have even been placed for weeks in solitary confinement.

The children’s identities are erased, and false papers issued.  Russian adoptions are then arranged. Continue reading →

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August 28, 2022 · 1:00 am

Trafficking, Abuse, and the Disabled

File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Een gehandicapte bedelaar langs de kant van de straat TMnr 20000047.jpg

Disabled child begging in the street, Source Tropenmuseum part of the National Museum of World Cultures, Author H.W. (Henk) van Rinsum (Photographer), (CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported)

WARNING:  Graphic Images

There are nearly 240 million children with mental or physical disabilities worldwide [1].

Across the globe, the majority of these children have meager access to clean water and sanitation; adequate nutrition; and necessary healthcare, including immunization.

  • 53% are likely to suffer from acute respiratory infections, the leading cause of death in children under five [2].
  • 42% are likely to be “wasted” which is to say emaciated, with muscle mass far below normal.
  • 34% are likely to be stunted in growth.

Disabled children are often denied education.

  • 49% are likely never to have attended school.
  • 42% are likely to lack basic reading and arithmetic skills.

Children with disabilities are at higher risk of abuse (including sexual abuse) and neglect [3][4].  In the United States, that risk is 300% higher than for children without disabilities [5]. Continue reading →

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Filed under Child Abuse, Child Molestation, Christianity, Emotional Abuse, human trafficking, Justice, Neglect, Physical Abuse, Religion, sex trafficking, Sexual Abuse, Slavery

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March 14, 2021 · 1:00 am

Rape as a Weapon

Femicides in Mexico: Impunity and Protests | Center for Strategic and International Studies

Protester holding sign which reads:  “Don’t Kill Us!”
Photo: ROCIO VAZQUEZ/AFP via Getty Image
WARNING:  Graphic Images

Rape is being used as a weapon in Mexico against women and girls protesting femicide and other gender violence [1].  Women who dress in black or cover their faces – even as a hygiene measure against COVID-19 infection – are viewed as suspect.

Femicide in Mexico

The World Health Organization defines femicide as the intentional murder of women because they are women.

Nearly 3500 femicides were committed in Mexico in 2019 alone [2].  Approximately 10 women are killed everyday by strangulation, suffocation, stabbing, and drowning.  Some 93% of crimes are either not reported or not investigated.

The inaction of Mexico toward this situation has drawn criticism from around the world.

Media Demonization

Women taking part in protests have been demonized by the media.  In this way, authorities have undermined the legitimacy of protest.  To further assure that women know their place, law enforcement uses violence to punish women who dare to take to the streets.

Human Rights Violations

More than two years after a judgment in the case of Women Victims of Sexual Torture in Atenco v. Mexico by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Mexico has made little progress in preventing human rights violations against women demonstrators. Continue reading →

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Filed under Abuse of Power, domestic abuse, domestic violence, Justice, Law, Rape, Violence Against Women

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June 19, 2016 · 1:00 am

Honor

WARNING:   Graphic Images

Incest, the least reported form of sexual abuse, exists worldwide.  Even when incest is disclosed to other family members, a family may want to keep the abuse secret from society at large, in the name of so called “honor”.  There can, also, be governmental reluctance to investigate matters considered of a highly personal nature.

This leaves victims without recourse.

Pakistan – Human Rights Violations

Pakistan is just one country where these factors come into play [1].  The UN estimates that 36% of girls and 29% of boys in Pakistan experience sexual abuse.  An estimated 90% of street children have been sexually abused [2].

The situation is complicated by the fact that women have so little power over their own lives, and so few options other than staying in an abusive marriage.  Mothers are, in effect, as trapped as their children.

Despite this (or because of it), both mothers and fathers have been known to participate in honor killings.

Honor Killings

As long ago as 1989, Zein and Maria Isa, a Pakistani couple living in St. Louis, jointly murdered their daughter, a high school senior, for taking a part-time job at Wendy’s, and dating a boy of whom they did not approve [3].  Though the couple claimed Tina had attacked them, this was proven untrue when it was revealed the murder had been recorded.  Zein Isa had been under surveillance as a possible terrorist, and a listening device installed in the couple’s home.

Little has changed in Pakistan.  Earlier this month, 18 y.o. Zeenat Rafique was tied to a bed, then set afire by her mother and brother [4].  Zeenat’s crime was that she had married without her family’s permission. Continue reading →

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