Chemical Samples from Syria on Way to Labs

          Teams from the United Nations are working at a feverish pace to analyze samples taken from Syria to determine if the allegations regarding the use of chemical weapons are true. The use of chemical weapons has been considered to be a violation of basic human rights since World War I, when the Germans used mustard and chlorine gas with devastating effect. Even the United States have had accusations of chemical warfare and deleterious side-effects associated with the use of Agent Orange. Should these allegations prove to be truthful, then Syria would be in direct violation of the ban put on chemical warfare by the United Nations. At the end of his press conference at United Nation Headquarters in New York, Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon confirmed this by saying that “the use of chemical weapons by anyone under any circumstances would be a serious violation of international law and an outrageous war crime.” To that effect, Ban called the members of the Security Council to come together and agree on an appropriate response. However, the problem is broader than just the events in Syria. The members of the council need to think about how their response could impact future efforts to maintain peace before authorizing punitive measures. The use of such force by the United Nations is not lawful unless it is in self-defense or is approved by the Security Council. The last of the samples will arrive by tomorrow. The scientists, who are led by Sweden native Dr Åke Sellström, will then finish analysis to determine if chemical warfare was involved in the Ghouta area of Damascus. The results will then be given to the Security Council. However, according to Mr. Ban, the team only has a mandate to determine if there was or was not any use of chemical weapons, not who was responsible.  












http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=45760&Cr=syria&Cr1=#.UiZzshysiSo

China-Hypocritical?

In the article "China: Nationwide Arrests Multiply, Critics Multiply," the author discusses the topic of China violating human rights. There have been 55 arrested of activist against the one party system of government. These Chinese citizens are peacefully trying to be heard and make a difference in their country. The government has been arresting them from the streets with the reasoning of "disturbing the peace." These actions by the Chinese government to limit the people's rights to vocally express their opinions are ironic because China is trying to join the United Nations Human Rights Council.
                                             
It is a shame that a country can attempt to appear like they support human rights for all people of the world while they limit the rights of their own people. Countries that are a part of the United Nations Human Rights Council should be chosen based the example that they set. If China is inducted to this organization then I would be greatly disappointed. If China cannot allow its people to express their feelings and personal beliefs, how can they advocate for other countries to give their people these rights.
The government that wants to appear like they support the idea of all people having the basic rights that should be granted to everyone, should not be putting protesters and "'Western constitutional democracy'" advocates in jail. These so called "law breakers" are being sent to jail and if convicted may be sentenced to up to 15 years of jail time for expressing themselves.
There have been many critics that have begin to speak out against China's hypocritical actions, and I myself agree with these critics. The government is denying universal rights. I believe they should be denied the right to enter the United Nations Human Rights Council until they learn to give universal rights to their own people.

Carson Sowell

http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/08/30/china-nationwide-arrests-activists-critics-multiply

Religious Killing in Southern Thailand

Thailand: Killings in the South

http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/08/28/thailand-new-killings-south

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When I first came to Georgia Tech I knew very few international people so all of the news that I heard from CNN or Fox always seemed quite distant.  I always felt detached from the topic and could never whole heartedly grasp the sentiments that others had about common issues in foreign places.  But the day I stepped foot on campus I met people from all corners of the globe and my perspective of what goes on in the world changed.  For example, I met someone from Australia who lived in Bangkok, Thailand for his entire high school career.  Just the other day as he explained to me his somewhat eccentric experiences there I found out that other parts of the world can be very different.  So as I skimmed through these Human Rights sites this article about southern Thailand caught my attention.  This articles details how over a short span of time six individuals who all belong to the Malay Muslim religious group have been murdered.  Each of these murders has sparked little to no police investigation into the matter and this is due to the religious beliefs of the individuals.  These attacks on Muslims have sparked a counter offensive against the Buddhists due to their involvement with the murders.  As I read further I began to think about my friend who lived in Bangkok.  This power struggle in a totally different part of the world slowly began to become real to me.  What if this happened in America? How would I feel about it? As these questions popped up in my mind I realized that these very questions were not just fabricated ideas for my friend, but instead his reality.   Many times we see articles about atrocities and become detached because the United States is a safe haven for religious and cultural ideologies (for the most part).  This article and my recent experiences have helped me to see what the rest of the world is like.  I learned that sometimes looking at something like this article from a different lens can make a world of difference in helping the privileged to understand that killings over religion still happen and that not everyone reads about it in a magazine because they have to live it every day.

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Malaysia: Violence and Cyber Attacks Threaten Elections

Article Link: http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/05/01/malaysia-violence-cyber-attacks-threaten-elections

            Recently, there have been human rights violations in Malaysia, particularly in regards to the lack of freedom of speech and increasing violence. The Malaysian government will be holding elections on May 5, 2013. Because of this, there have been increasing amounts of election-related opposition and violence. The supporters of Malaysia's ruling party are using extreme measures to ensure that their party remains in power. The ruling party is Barisan Nasional and the opposing party is Pakatan Rakyat. Despite increasing violence, the leaders of the two parties have not put in any effort in alleviating the situation. People are getting attacked simply because of their political beliefs. The targeted groups are party workers, online news sources, and activists. Cyber attacks have been common; supporters of the ruling party limit the information that goes out into the public by using technical interference and hacks. This removes opposing opinions and limits the speeches relevant to the election. They have been attacking news websites and public radio stations by causing slow-downs, interruptions and denial-of-service. The political harassment and threats are preventing the citizens from voting for who they truly want in their government.

            The human rights injustices occurring in Malaysia are unwarranted and unfair. It is surprising to learn about the restrictions the citizens have in expressing their opinions. In order to have a fair election, every citizen should have the right to vote for who they want and access information about all the political parties. It is difficult to try and imagine the lack of freedom of speech and expression, especially since we come from a democratic country with fair elections. The article asks the government to get involved and prevent the human rights injustices. The government should take action in investigating the cyber attacks and stopping election-related violence.