By Lana Estemirova

After a costly two years, I won my battle to stay in the UK. We must show solidarity with migrants or the heartbreak will go on

On 28 November 2017, I burst into tears in the middle of a coffee shop after I learned that my spouse visa had been rejected by the Home Office. My lawyer had warned me that this would be the most likely outcome but it still felt like a punch in the stomach. I was being rejected by the country where I had spent the past seven years, although I was happily married to …read more

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By Peter Lewis

From big tech to robodebt to My Health Record, Australians are rightly concerned about the automating of decisions

Falling levels of trust in our public institutions have become the backing track for the demise of the progressive political project and the rise of populist strongmen who promise to take back control.

Government becomes a problem to be solved, a “bubble”, a “swamp” of compromised technocrats and bean-counters operating against the interests of hard-working common folk, the “quiet Australians” whose will for a simple life is constantly being frustrated.

Related: People should be held accountable for AI and algorithm errors, rights commissioner …read more

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By Danny Lee

The American deafblind lawyer and activist on why disabled people have the skills to design and build a better society for all

The cafeteria menu was only available in print when 19-year-old Haben Girma started at Lewis & Clark college in Portland, Oregon. “I asked the cafeteria manager to provide something that I as a deafblind student could access,” she says. “Blindness wasn’t the problem: the format was the problem.” But she says the manager refused, because the cafeteria was too busy. It had a massive impact on her life. “For the first few months I tolerated eating food without knowing …read more

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By Michael Safi in Amman

Many of the restrictions were announced in early days of occupation of West Bank

Palestinians in the West Bank are still being prosecuted under military orders that were designed to keep the peace in the early days of an occupation and that have stifled civil rights in the territory for more than 50 years, a watchdog group says.

The restrictions, some of which are based on laws passed during the British colonial era, are regularly used to break up protests, close radio stations and arrest activists under charges such as “attempt[ing] to influence public opinion … in a manner that may harm …read more

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By Elaine Pearson

Resettlement in the US has allowed some long-persecuted people to flourish, but that doesn’t let Australia off the hook

“To freedom.”

Imran, a 25-year-old Rohingya refugee from Myanmar, raises a glass with a big smile. We are in a bustling restaurant on Chicago’s north side. This midwestern city seems a million miles from Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, or the tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru, yet it’s now home to several Rohingya men resettled under an agreement between Australia and the US.

Related: Cormann and Dutton downplay chances of Australia accepting New Zealand refugee deal

Related: Manus and …read more

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By Josh Taylor

After the robodebt scandal, Ed Santow says it’s time to set rules to govern how such new technologies are used

People need to be held accountable for the mistakes AI and algorithms make on their behalf, such as that seen in the government’s robodebt scandal, according to Australian human rights commissioner Ed Santow.

The proposal comes in a new discussion paper on the impact of new technologies on human rights in Australia, released by the commission on Tuesday.

Related: The Coalition says it’s cracking down on Facebook and Google – but what does it actually mean?

Related: Most Australians …read more

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By Reuters in Geneva

• Security forces acted in ‘fundamentally repressive manner’
• UN report flags ‘alarmingly high number’ of 345 eye injuries

Chilean police and soldiers responded to recent mass protests in a “fundamentally repressive manner”, committing serious human rights violations – including unlawful killings and torture – that should be prosecuted, UN investigators have concluded.

Related: Chile security forces’ crackdown leaves toll of death and broken bodies

Related: Hundreds shot and beaten as Chile takes to the streets

Continue reading… …read more

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By Ben Smee

Special rapporteurs say act could be used to ‘unduly restrict the right to freedom of peaceful assembly’

United Nations human rights experts have detailed “serious concerns” with anti-protest laws recently adopted in Queensland, which they say are “inherently disproportionate” and criminalise peaceful demonstrations.

The state passed laws in November to ban “locking devices” used by activists to delay their removal during acts of civil disobedience.

Related: Some ‘sinister tactics’ those brave protesters in Queensland could have used but also didn’t | First Dog on the Moon

Continue reading… …read more

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By Editorial

Criticism of Aung San Suu Kyi’s defence of her country must not overshadow the issue at the heart of the case at the international court of justice: the ongoing suffering of Rohingya Muslims

Aung San Suu Kyi’s decision to personally defend Myanmar in the genocide case at the international court of justice this week has torn away any scant remaining shreds of moral credibility from the figure once lauded as a champion of democracy and the fight against oppression. Yet what is at stake is far more than one woman’s reputation.

Nor is this even about the six military leaders …read more

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By Letters

In response to an article concerning the ongoing political crisis in Haiti, foreign minister Bocchit Edmond describes the administration’s efforts to build a unity government and move the country forwards

Your article states that Haiti’s crisis is far from over (Killers lurk in the shadows as Haiti chaos takes a sinister turn, 5 December).

And indeed, at this moment communities are suffering from food and fuel shortages. Pockets of violence undermine efforts to ensure public safety. Crucially, however, schools that were shut for months have begun to reopen, and we also are seeing progress toward a political resolution.

Continue …read more

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