In 1990 Chris McCandless donated all of his life savings to OXFAM and went into the wild to live in the Alaskan outback. He had the feeling he didn’t belong in the life his parents planned for him. He knew they’d not take no for an answer, wearing him down like a chainsaw until he…
When I was first covering the human rights meetings in Geneva in 2004, long before I knew about this thing called a “weblog,” I was posting reports about the UN sessions through FreeWebs and handing out business cards with the site address to build readers. In 2005 I retained the rights to www.Sezin.org, but continued…
Five years ago at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, I met an amazing Californian Phillipina woman and we became fast friends, seeing in each other kindred spirits. Interestingly enough, it was the same year I met Paolo Coelho who told me: “Always keep your heart open; it will bleed, but it will heal.”…
Since Wendy passed away, I have lived my life following signs from the Spirits. Especially during my time at the UN and in Spain it seemed as if every decision I made, the course of each of my days was defined by signs. Signs were everywhere. It got to the point that even people who…
In the Acoma Pueblo language the phrase hauchaw tyah haati is a response to a query about where someone might be. It means they are out there somewhere, in the world, in life. Out there somewhere. Out There Somewhere is also the title of a wonderful poetry collection by the famous indigenous poet Simon J….
I am writing from my temporary desk in the offices of the Turkish Daily News with a gray view of the concrete wasteland that is Istanbul. It is Sunday. There is something very unnatural about being at work on Sunday, especially since my bus to get to work leaves at 830 AM and no one…
Indeed the last week or so since my Bobby Kennedy experience has been intense. I have had to deal with the strangest dreams, the strangest situations both in life and online and a lot is being released. I have, of late, been using the Aztec Calendar to make decisions and get myself into balance with…
After 20+ years the Declaration on the Rights of the Worlds Indigenous Peoples falls flat on its face with barely a grunt. This is not so much a surprise that it just lies there on wet pavement, disintegrating in the rain, since the text that finally made it to the UN General Assembly (UNGA) was…
After 20+ years the Declaration on the Rights of the Worlds Indigenous Peoples falls flat on its face with barely a grunt. This is not so much a surprise that it just lies there on wet pavement, disintegrating in the rain, since the text that finally made it to the UN General Assembly (UNGA) was…
Ever since I was a little girl I have had this thing for the Kennedy’s. My mother had these line drawings of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy hung in a special place all my life, and I remember when I was small I would stare at the photos and ask my mom about…
kudos to the venezuelan president for his recent speech at the UN, where he aptly referred to george dubya as the devil and noted that the smell of sulfur remained even 24 hours after the idiot president stood at the same UN podium. kudos because most of us with half a brain can smell the…
the pope is in the news today because he quoted a byzantine christian emperor’s idea of who Mohammed the Prophet was and what his teachings extolled, that islam is a religion of violence and it is to be spread by the sword. this was taken from a lecture he has been making on religion and…
so many days have passed since i have been able to write. our internet connection is shaky at best and i am trying my luck to post this. yesterday, i had my first physical contact with Tommy, the stray cat who adopted us and is now a part of our family. he is the sweetest…
this happened to me last year. i was writing about the UN Commission on Human Rights (which turned out to be the last one, say true) and i realised that i was being extremely glib about very serious things. i forced myself to write an apology to all my readers as my tone and presentation…
with the ongoing ear infection issue, in spite of the fact that i am in a new city and all that, i have been staying pretty close to home and taking advantage of the internet connection at long last. for ages, i have wanted to switch to gmail but i have so much history in…
packers came today and put all of the possessions my family will keep into a container, soon to brave the wild tsunami-threatened oceans for sri lanka. moving day is always strange for me. i realised today that i have more attachment to the things that make up our home than the home itself. a carved…
May 06, 2006 local british election results came through today with a disturbing turn towards conservatism once again. portugal recently elected an ultra-conservative president. switzerland has the most conservative government it has had in 20 years, along with france. spain currently has a socialist government, but with two simultaneous separatist movements in the basque region…
Greetings to all, As you may or may not know, this weekend (the 16th and 17th of July) was the pre-WGIP Indigenous Caucus meeting in Geneva, in preparation for the next week of sessions of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations. Normally, I don’t do write-ups for these sessions, but since many of the key…
Greetings to all, It was so great to see so many good friends, colleagues and relations this week! What a treat, and something of a shame that we are not able to see each other more often. I miss you all already! As I had found out that UNPO among other organizations were doing daily…
This morning opened with a heated debate on the decision regarding the proposed reform of the Secretary-General in the area of human rights, which ultimately was adopted by a vote of 34 in favour, 15 against and 4 abstentions. The most contested part of this decision was a proposed Working Group to examine the question…
This morning, the Commission began by withdrawing a resolution on Item 9, the Question of the violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in any part of the world that was about the situation of human rights in the Sudan. The EU felt they could withdraw the resolution because they were receiving the cooperation they…
This report will focus on all of the events from April 20 that did not have to do with Item 15 on indigenous issues, which is contained in the Twenty-fifth Report independently. The Commission deferred taking action on the resolution regarding the protection of human rights in the context of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and…
*This report is to date incomplete. Please come back in a couple days for the complete version. Thanks! April 20, 2005 the Commission on Human Rights voted on Item 15, Indigenous Issues, much to the embarrassment of the Americans and Australians citizens in the room. All of the resolutions concerning indigenous issues were passed, even…
During today’s extended sessions, Item 18 on Effective functioning of human rights mechanisms: a) Treaty bodies, b) National institutions and regional arrangements, c) Adaptation and strengthening of the United Nations machinery for human rights was concluded with the last few NGO interventions. Many went through issues that had been touched upon during yesterday’s debate on…
The Commission continued its discussion of Item 17 on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, with similar comments on the situation of human rights defenders, capital punishment, sexual orientation and the like being debated by the various governments and NGO’s. Mr. Akich Okola, the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Burundi…
Item 14 regarding Specific groups and individuals was closed for discussion today after the few remaining NGOs on the speaker’s list took the floor for their interventions. Most notably, voting on Item 10, Economic, social and cultural rights, continued, and Items 15, 16,17 and 19 were tackled. Issues such as anti-Semitism, the situation of human…
Monday April 11 saw the entrance of a multitude of indigenous peoples from around the world to intervene on Item 15, Indigenous Issues, an agenda item of the Commission that is fixed due to the fact that most indigenous people have limited resources and this makes it easier for them to know when their item…
On April 7 and 8 the Commission continued discussing Item 12 on the Integration of the human rights of women and the gender perspective: a) Violence against women, and judging by the interventions made by both Member and Observer States, although violence against women is widespread and horrific, it doesn’t seem to happen in any…
Yakin Erturk, the Special Rapporteur (SR) on violence against women, its causes and consequences: -widespread violence against women around the world and just as common is impunity of the violators. -country visits to Guatemala, El Salvador, occupied Palestinian territories, Sudan. In Guatemala widespread violence against indigenous women who face multiple discriminations. In Sudan, horrific rape…
Discussion today continued on Item 11, Civil and political rights, including the questions of: a) Torture and detention, b) Disappearances and summary executions, c) Freedom of expression, d) Independence of the judiciary, administration of justice, impunity, e) Religious intolerance, f) States of emergency, g) Conscientious objection to military service, with some of the most disturbing…
From their vantage point of everywhere and nowhere, the Spirits watched on closely as the human beings gibbered and jabbered away like their primate cousins. For the Spirits, talking is one of the human activities that interest them the least (unless, of course, the Spirits are being invoked), but these particular weeks of talking are…
Today’s will be a brief one and the item under discussion was still Item 10, on Economic, social and cultural rights. This morning opened with the bland report of the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Open-ended working group to consider the options regarding the elaboration of an optional protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and…
I was only able to attend the morning session of today’s meetings due to an overwhelming attack of rage. When I began to see myself like Uma Thurman in Kill Bill brandishing a Samurai sword and leaping from one government desk to the next slicing and dicing, I knew I could not go back until…
I woke up this Easter Sunday reminding myself to wish my family a ‘Happy Easter’ until it occurred to me how disturbing that phrase is in the context of what Easter represents in the Christian context. It reminds us of the last days of a young spiritual warrior who preached love, tolerance, compassion and the…
