Wednesday, 10 December 2014

Malala Yousafzai Interview




Malala Yousafzai, Kailash Satyarthi receive Nobel Peace Prize

Both credited with work for children's rights; Satyarthi saved 80,000 from slave labor, Yousafzai fought for education
December 10, 2014 10:23AM ET
Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai, shot by the Taliban for refusing to quit school, and Indian activist Kailash Satyarthi received their Nobel Peace Prize on Wednesday after two days of celebration honoring their work for children's rights.
Malala, 17, became by far the youngest laureate, widely praised for her global campaigning since she was shot in the head on her school bus in 2012. Some groups in Pakistan, however, have accused her of being a puppet of the West and violating the tenets of conservative Islam.
"I tell my story, not because it is unique, but because it is not," said Malala, better known by her first name, which is also the title of her book and the name of her foundation.
"It is the story of many girls," she said in Oslo's ornate City Hall on the anniversary of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel's death. 
Although the focus was undoubtedly on Oslo on Wednesday, Nobel laureates in literature, chemistry, physics, medicine and economics were gathering in Stockholm, due to receive their prizes from the king of Sweden later in the day.
Satyarthi, who is credited with saving about 80,000 children from slave labor sometimes in violent confrontations, kept a modest profile in Oslo and conceded to being overshadowed by Malala.
"I've lost two of my colleagues," Satyarthi said about his work. "Carrying the dead body of a colleague who is fighting for the protection of children is something I'll never forget, even as I sit here to receive the Nobel Peace Prize."
Arriving in Norway with friends and young activists from Pakistan, Syria and Nigeria, Malala met thousands of children, walked the streets to greet supporters and will open an exhibit where her blood-stained dress, worn when her school bus was attacked, was put on display.
"She's very brave and tough, fighting even after the Taliban shot her in the head," said Andrea, 12, who was among crowds of children hoping to greet Malala in downtown Oslo.
The award could also help the Norwegian Nobel Committee repair its reputation, damaged by controversial awards in recent years to the European Union and U.S. President Barack Obama.
"I am pretty certain that I am also the first recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize who still fights with her younger brothers," Malala said. "I want there to be peace everywhere, but my brothers and I are still working on that."
Reuters
TAKEN FROM: ALJAZEERA AMERICA
VIDEO FROM : YOUTUBE
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/12/10/malala-nobel-peace.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEUCP3lnFNw
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Sunday, 7 December 2014

United Nations News Centre - Eric Garner, Michael Brown cases spark ‘legitimate concerns’ about US policing – UN experts

Eric Garner, Michael Brown cases spark ‘legitimate concerns’ about US policing – UN experts

Protestors in New York City demonstrate in the wake of the verdict in the case of the police shooting of Missouri teenager Michael Brown (24 November 2014). Photo: Jacques Baudrier
5 December 2014 – Grand jury verdicts in the United States which resulted in the decisions to not bring to trial the cases of two unarmed African-American men killed by police forces have sparked “legitimate concerns” regarding policing practices across the country, a group of United Nations human rights experts said today.
Michael Brown, an African-American teenager from Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner, an African-American man from New York City, were both killed in separate incidents by white police officers after they had reportedly surrendered. Their deaths, and the grand jury decisions which followed them, have set off a wave of protests across the US against what many perceive to be a broader pattern of lethal police brutality directed at minorities, say the UN rights experts.
It is clear that, at least among some sectors of the population, there is a deep and festering lack of confidence in the fairness of the justice and law enforcement systems.

“There are numerous complaints stating that African-Americans are disproportionally affected by such practices of racial profiling and the use of disproportionate and often lethal force,” the UN Special Rapporteur on racism, Mutuma Ruteere, said in a news release.
“African-Americans are 10 times more likely to be pulled over by police officers for minor traffic offences than white persons. Such practices must be eradicated.”
The UN experts welcomed US President Barack Obama’s proposed measures to address what has been described as “consistent allegations of inappropriate policing practices” through trust-building initiatives between police forces and the communities they are assigned to protect. But, the experts cautioned, such measures should also “recognize the need for training and to ensure that minorities are recruited into the police in which they are under-represented.”
“The Michael Brown and Eric Garner’s cases have added to our existing concerns over the longstanding prevalence of racial discrimination faced by African-Americans, particularly in relation to access to justice and discriminatory police practices,” added human rights expert Mireille Fanon Mendes France, who currently heads the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent.
“We urge a comprehensive examination of all laws that could have discriminatory impact on African-Americans to ensure that such laws are in full compliance with the country’s international legal obligations and relevant international standards.”
The Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Rita Izsák, meanwhile, expressed concern over the grand jury decision to avoid a trial process which, she said, would have ensured that justice take its proper course, particularly in light of the apparent conflicting evidence that exists relating to both incidents.
“The decisions leave many with legitimate concerns relating to a pattern of impunity when the victims of excessive use of force come from African-American or other minority communities,” Ms. Izsák explained.
Demonstrations in opposition to the grand jury decision on Eric Garner’s death spilled into their second consecutive night last night as protestors fanned out across New York, targeting the city’s most well-known locations, including Brooklyn Bridge and the ferry terminal to Staten Island, where Mr. Garner Lived. While the New York protests have been largely peaceful, according to media reports, confrontations between demonstrators and police in Ferguson have led to eruptions of violence including looting and the burning of cars.
Both the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai, and the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, urged protestors and police to allow for peaceful demonstrations and refrain from fuelling further violence.
The Rapporteurs’ concerns follow a statement made by the UN human rights chief last week in which he expressed deep concern about the “disproportionate number of young African-Americans who die in encounters with police officers, as well as the disproportionate number of African Americans in US prisons and the disproportionate number of African-Americans on Death Row.”
“It is clear that, at least among some sectors of the population, there is a deep and festering lack of confidence in the fairness of the justice and law enforcement systems,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said.
News Tracker: past stories on this issue
UN rights chief concerned over 'disproportionate' killings of African-Americans by US police


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