Archive - Dec 10, 2009

• Protestors raise concerns in Copenhagen and pursue parallel conference
• Lawmakers question treasury secretary over extension of federal bailout program
• UN commissioner marks Human Rights Day by telling world to ‘Embrace Diversity’
• Obama Administration moves to drop case against author of torture memos, John Yoo.
• Resolution seeks to improve school discipline with human rights framework

• Obama accepts Nobel Peace Prize; defends need for war
• Long-standing socially conservative riders removed from appropriations bill
• Extrajudicial killings in Nigeria exposed
• Red shirt protests erupt once again in Thailand
• International Human Rights Day: Mothers march for justice in Argentina

Yesterday, we reported on some of the conflicts that have broken out inside the Copenhagen climate talks over a secret proposal that poor nations say could permanently marginalize them from the process. As delegates from the global south press their concerns inside the formal talks tens of thousands of protesters are descending on the city to raise similar concerns from the outside. Brian Edwards-Tiekert has this report on what's shaping up in the streets of Copenhagen.

All the official protest actions in Copenhagen are planned to be nonviolent, though such protests in Europe often draw small groups that split off and destroy property.  Denmark's conservative government isn't taking any chances: the parliament has given police the power to detain people for 12 hours without cause, it’s created a 40-day sentence for interference with police, and it passed a law making it illegal to cover your face anywhere near a demonstration. Local authorities have also converted a former beer warehouse into a giant detention center, and started to conduct late-night raids on the halls where out-of-town activists are camped out. No arrests have been reported yet, but police have seized possessions from activists.

Now we go to Washington, where Treasury Secretary Time Geithner faced a skeptical government oversight panel today. He was there to give a report on the future of the TARP program. That’s the government’s bailout program which so far has focused mostly on large banks. Geithner has said that efforts in 2010 will focus on some new projects, including a home loan modification program. An initiative to provide capital to small banks and a plan to make loans to small businesses. But lawmakers expressed concern. FSRN’s Karen Miller has more.

Today is International Human Rights Day and the theme this year is, "Embrace Diversity, End Discrimination." Human Rights Day is observed each year on December 10th to commemorate the adoption of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Despite gains in recent decades, human rights advocates say millions of people face institutional and societal discrimination on a daily basis. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says discrimination; intolerance and prejudice remain rampant even with the adoption of numerous conventions and international laws dedicated to the elimination of discrimination.

"Discrimination may start with words, but it can also very easily end in violence, ranging from someone being beaten up in the street because of their clothing or skin color to more systematic persecution, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide. The problem begins inside each and every one of us.”

Pillay says racial and ethnic discrimination are some of the most dangerous forms. To end discrimination, she says stronger laws are necessary.

"You cannot defeat discrimination by shutting your eyes to it and hoping it will go away. Complacency is discrimination's best friend."

Today, FSRN will take a look at several areas of human rights. A bit later, we'll look at the US school system, which a growing number of educators and parents say is using overly harsh discipline that disproportionately targets poor children and students of color.

We're going to take a look at the latest in attempts to prosecute attorney John Yoo. Yoo served under the Bush Administration and wrote memos that dismissed the Geneva Conventions and justified the use of torture.

While some human rights advocates want Yoo investigated and disbarred, the Obama Administration is trying to get the ninth circuit court to drop a lawsuit against the attorney. Some are calling the move an obstruction of justice on the part of the Obama Administration. FSRN'S Tanya Snyder reports from Washington.

America's current disciplinary rates in public schools are the highest in the nation's history - they've doubled over the past three decades. And these policies tend to affect certain students the most: youth of color, students with disabilities and students in poor communities. Those findings are part of a new resolution from the Dignity in Schools campaign. It calls for a new direction in education - one that uses a human rights approach to education and discipline.

We're joined by Liz Sullivan. She's the education program director with the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, a national human rights organization based in New York and one of the drafters of the resolution. The group plans to use it in the coming months to push for policy changes in the schools and on Capitol Hill.