It began four weeks ago. Thousands of students at campuses across Puerto Rico began a strike to demand their right to quality public education. After the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) instituted $100 million in budget cuts, and in part inspired by other student movements in California earlier this spring, students began occupying their campuses. Sustained by food and water tossed over fences by family, and encouraged by faith leaders and unions across the country, it appears that these students will remain committed into month two until the university agrees to come to the table. University professors and workers have declared their support for the student strike and are strongly urging the UPR administration to begin negotiations. Professor and dramatist Roberto Ramos-Perea has sent an appeal to the international community outlining the reasons for the strike and documenting the human rights abuses that are being committed in response to the strike, such as the refusal of light, water, and food to the students. Thus far, the university has refused negotiations and has only responded with the deployment of riot police. Curiously, coverage of this historic strike by Puerto Rican students has been virtually non-existent among U.S. media sources. Democracy Now, however, is one exception.

"University of Puerto Rico is Not for Sale"

Last week the Honduran government inaugurated a truth commission to investigate the June 2009 coup. The commission will “document human rights abuses related to the coup, address grievances where they are found and consider reforms to prevent similar incidents from happening again.” Human rights groups have, however, criticized the commission. Committee for the Families of the Detained and Disappeared of Honduras (COFADEH) states, “the only purpose of the Lobo commission is to support the Honduran regime’s continued efforts to whitewash those responsible for the coup and its violent aftermath.” Since last year’s coup, a powerful nonviolent resistance movement has emerged. Women make up the majority of the movement and play a critical leadership role. The resistance is united not just by opposition to the regime but also a positive vision of a new Honduras, characterized by this slogan: “Por un constituyente no excluyente” (For a constitutional convention that doesn’t exclude). The regime has responded with brutal repression. As of last August, women’s groups documented 249 cases of violations of women’s human rights, including beatings, sexual assault and gang rapes by police. To date, COFADEH has registered 47 assassinations of anti-coup activists. On May 10, the U.N. Human Rights Council urged protection for Honduran journalists after seven were killed in the past six weeks. The truth commission has no mandate to examine these current human rights violations.

Performers are not ‘average’ people but nobody likes to get short-changed, or not paid, for work performed. The fight for the rights of working people led by groups such as musicians was one of the precursors of how unions came into existence. Currently, when you hear a song on the radio, the songwriter is paid for the airplay but the singer is not. This is a form of ‘theft of services’, since the singer is the actual performer to whom the audience responds. World renowned singer, Dionne Warwick recently appeared at a U.S. Congressional hearing to support legislation designed to assure that performers/singers are compensated. Both the Senate (S.379) and the House (H.R.848) have approved similar measures on the issue, but it remains unclear whether either chamber will bring legislation to a vote this year. Opposition to paying performers for their work is primarily led by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) which represents radio station owners. The NAB argues that paying singers will be transferring monies to foreign companies and nations, however, Dionne Warwick is a U.S. citizen, born and raised in New Jersey.

In 2000, the United Nations General Assembly passed resolution 55/93 to recognize International Migrants Day, a day which celebrates the UN’s adoption of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (Migrant Worker Convention) on December 18, 1990. The Migrant Worker Convention guarantees migrant workers and their families fundamental rights including: freedom from discrimination based on national or ethnic origin, race, sex, religion (or any other status) in all aspects of work; equality before the law regardless of a migrant’s legal status; and freedom from arbitrary expulsion of migrants from their country of employment.

Despite America’s rich social history of immigration, certain migrant communities, especially those of color, have faced discrimination and exclusion from basic human rights protections. “From the Chinese guest workers who built the U.S. railroad system and the Braceros, Mexican guest farm workers from 1942 to 1964, who worked under unjust and slave-like conditions, to the present day farm workers, nannies, and hotel workers, many of whom continue to endure slave-like conditions, exploitative hours, racist attitudes, and precarious conditions, the struggle for justice continues,” states Janvieve Williams Comrie in a press release by the Latin American and Caribbean Community Center.

An article in The Independent sheds light on human rights education projects that seek to highlight the injustice and struggles that Central American migrants face.

In Manila, Philippines, women march with the International Assembly of Migrants and Refugees against modern-day slavery.

Students around the country who have mobilized with the United Students Against Sweatshops are celebrating as the target of their human rights campaign, Russell Athletic, caved to public pressure on Tuesday and moved to rehire more than 1,200 workers in Honduras who had been fired for organizing a union in order to collectively bargain for their labor rights. An article in the New York Times sheds light on this victory for global student/worker solidarity.

Human rights organizations and advocates across the globe were instrumental in the establishment of the Kimberley Process, which works to certify diamonds as ‘conflict free.’ More importantly, these groups have continued to work in monitoring effective implementation of the Kimberley Process standards. However, recent evidence of Zimbabwe’s gross human rights violations in the diamond trade, and the Kimberley Process’ lack of effective response, have left many fearful that the deadly conditions in Zimbabwe’s diamond mines will continue indefinitely. What is the role of consumers in demanding human rights standards for the people who mine their diamonds, pick their produce, or sew their clothes? What can or should be done to enforce the Kimberley Process to respect its own rules? A New York Times article highlights the situation in Zimbabwe, and you can read more from Amnesty International on the history of conflict diamonds and access a guide on how to take action. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

This past weekend, I had the great honor of meeting Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Irene Khan. As the keynote speaker at Amnesty International USA’s Southern Regional Conference in Decatur, GA, Khan spoke directly and passionately on the intersection of poverty and human rights. Unlike many in the elite circles of humanitarian-aid or international development agencies, Khan not only highlights that human rights violations are often the underlying causes of poverty, she also argues that the cycle of poverty cannot be solved by charity or ‘economic growth’ models- rather, efforts to end poverty must be grounded in human rights and the empowerment of communities, so that they themselves can demand access, security, and the means to self-determination. Her book, “The Unheard Truth” is available worldwide and a must-read for anyone interested in the solutions to global poverty and inequality.

As highlighted in a recent blog by The Nation, farmworkers in Florida have much to celebrate. The migrant farmworkers of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and their student, faith, and fair food allies have mobilized nationwide actions for more than a decade, making basic demands to the most powerful fast food corporations in the world: protect the human rights of farmworkers, put an end to modern-day slavery in the fields of Florida, and give farmworkers one penny more per pound of tomatoes they pick. This past week, East Coast Growers and the Compass Group (the world’s largest food-service company) have agreed to pass down the penny more per pound the farmworkers have earned in agreements with Taco Bell, McDonald’s, Burger King, and Subway. Although farmworkers and domestic workers are excluded from the 1935 U.S. National Labor Relations Act, which protects the right to fair working conditions, the right to join unions, and the right to overtime pay, these farmworkers have nonetheless fought for these inalienable human rights, and together with consumers’ demands not only for sustainable food, but fair food, they are successfully bending the arc of agriculture towards justice.

Photo by Scott Robertson:

Human rights are often framed in the United States in terms of political and civil rights, such as equality before the law, the right to a fair trial, and the right to freedom of opinion and expression. However, the full spectrum of human rights recognizes the indivisibility of all human rights, which includes Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. These rights include the right to adequate housing, safe working conditions, and education, among others. These rights are not protected in the U.S. Bill of Rights, nor has the U.S. ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. Some of the most pressing challenges in domestic policy today include the problems of unequal access to public services such as healthcare, abusive labor practices against undocumented workers, and forced evictions for the many who have been hit hardest by the economic recession. How does our understanding of these issues, as well as the possible solutions to them, change when we recognize them as human rights violations, and discard the age-old tactic of blaming the victim? On September 24th, 2009, the newly created Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights will be opened for signature and ratification at a ceremony at the United Nations in New York. How do you think the U.S. will participate, if at all? Should it?

On September 23rd, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at the New York University School of Law will be hosting a panel on the ‘Hope and Challenge of the Optional Protocol.’