Kalla Hale-Stern – Don’t Have Sex With Robots, Say Ethicists

Robot ethicists have launched the Campaign Against Sex Robots, seeking a ban on the development of robotic sexytimes. The reality of pleasure bots is fast approaching. Mechanical toys for sexual pleasure already exist, of course, and hardware developers are working to incorporate A.I. into their designs. A company called True Companion claims to be producing “the world’s first sex robot,” …

Harmeet Sooden – The US-led Coalition’s Human Rights Record in Iraq

Human rights violations committed by ISIS are condemned the world over – rightly so – whereas those committed by the US-led coalition fighting ISIS are under-reported, particularly in the West. What follows is a selection of the latter – a selection that strongly suggests the coalition’s military strategy is compounding the humanitarian crisis in Iraq. 13 September 2010 – Amnesty International …

This Can’t Be Happening – 09.02.15

Prof. Francis Boyle is a professor of international law at the University of Illinois Law School with a long career as an anti-war activist and upholder of human rights. He has served as a counsel to Bosnia and Herzegovina and was a legal advisor to the Palestinian delegation during the Middle East Peace negotiations from 1991 to 1993. Prof. Boyle has served on the board of directors of Amnesty International, and the Council for Responsible Genetics. He drafted the legislation for what became the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act in 1989 which was signed into law by the first Bush administration. He has been a strong opponent of the current Afghan and Iraq wars, and was an advocate for bringing international arrest warrants against George W Bush, Cheney and others in the Bush administration. Prof. Boyle has published numerous papers in law reviews and many books. His most recent publications are “Palestine, Palestinians and Internaitonal,” “Biowarfare and Terrorism” and “The Criminality of Nuclear Deterrence” co-written with Phillip Berrigan.

Leid Stories – 08.26.15

Mass Incarceration USA: Ending It, and What Started It
With 2.4 million people in its prisons, jails and detention centers—and an additional 5 million people under state or federal supervision through probation or parole—the United States leads the world in incarceration.
The United States accounts for only 5 percent of the world’s population, but nearly 22 percent of the world’s prison population, says Amnesty International. The nation’s prison population has grown 500 percent in the past 30 years, says The Sentencing Project.
Our guest, Carl Dix, a national spokesperson for the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, has been working to stop mass incarceration since the mid-1990s, and in 2011 played a key role in starting the Stop Mass Incarceration Network. He discusses the nationwide human-rights campaign to end mass incarceration—which, he says, has had devastating impact on communities of color and the poor.
Michelle Alexander, associate professor of law at Ohio State University and author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, discusses in a presentation at the University of Tennessee the policies that produced mass incarceration.

Heather Gray – A Message to American Mothers About Sex in the Military

Amnesty International just made a decision regarding decriminalizing the sex industry and I frankly wonder if they understand anything about it. In the dialogue about this within the Amnesty International circles, the Philippines is mentioned. Here’s an excerpt of what Janice G. Raymond who is the former co-director of the “Coalition Against Trafficking in Women” had to say about this …

Joe Lauria – The Saudi Royals — Unchained

Saudi Arabia’s relations with the United Nations have hit rock bottom after a series of incidents that has left a humbled Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon furious with Riyadh, two U.N. officials close to the U.N. chief have told me. The relationship matters because only the United Nations has the reputation of neutrality necessary to forge a power-sharing deal that can finally …

Chris Hedges – Amnesty International: Protecting the ‘Human Rights’ of Johns, Pimps and Human Traffickers

The decision by Amnesty International’s decision-making forum, the International Council Meeting, to call for the decriminalization of prostitution is another in a long line of triumphs for heartless neoliberal economics and the grotesque commodification of human beings that defines predatory capitalism. Salil Shetty, secretary-general of Amnesty International, said: “Sex workers are one of the most marginalized groups in the world …

Andrea Germanos – New Report Finds ‘Strong Evidence’ of Israeli War Crimes in Gaza

Amnesty International says its new report provides “some of the most compelling evidence yet” that Israel committed war crimes during its attack on Gaza last summer. ‘Black Friday’: Carnage in Rafah during 2014 Israel/Gaza conflict states that findings indicate that Israeli forces acted in retaliatory manner, with disregard for civilian life, after Lieutenant Hadar Goldin was captured by Hamas fighters, …

UK Government Caught Spying on Human Rights Organisations By Michaela Whitton

Edward Snowden didn’t just expose the possibility that state surveillance may have intruded into the lives of British citizens. He actually accused U.K. authorities of operating a system where ”anything goes,” and new details revealed this week confirm his suspicion. The U.K. government is one of the main culprits for privacy infringement. Mass indiscriminate surveillance programmes include monitoring of emails, calls, internet …

Will US Government Be Made to Answer for Fueling Yemen’s Approaching Famine? – Sarah Lazare

With Yemen on the verge of famine, and civilians paying a devastating toll in the relentless Saudi-led bombing campaign, one key question emerges: Will the U.S. government ever be held to account for its role in the crisis? The United Nations warned Wednesday that the country of 26 million faces the highest-level humanitarian emergency—on par with Iraq, Syria, and South Sudan. The …