Human Rights
Human rights are for everyone. Everyone, everywhere has the right to live with dignity.
2008 marks the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Human Rights, and New Zealand was one of the leading countries in the creation of this landmark document.
Much as been achieved and so much remains to be done on civil rights, on poverty, on repression.
Everyone, everywhere has the right to live with dignity. Human rights violations drive and deepen poverty and conflict. People living in poverty have the least access to power to shape the policies of poverty and are frequently denied effective remedies for violations of their rights.
Equally, those people who have the courage to stand up for the rights of their communities, and those who strive to protect the environment need to be protected from repression and persecution.
True development is impossible without the free participation of those concerned.
Your urgent support is needed
Forced Evictions from mining area in Papua New Guinea
More than 1,000 people have been left homeless in Papua New Guinea after police officials forcibly evicted them by burning down their homes.
Amnesty International has called for immediate action to protect them.
On 27 April 2009 police officials burned down 50 houses within the Porgera mining area, owned by Canadian-based Barrick Gold Corporation. The police alleged that people living in these homes were squatters responsible for illegal mining activities. A further 300 houses of villagers living near the mine are also reported to have been burnt down as part of the same operations. more.
More information can be found on the Independent Media Centre website.
Pakistan relief appeal
Oxfam has launched an appeal to provide emergency support to 360,000 people who have escaped the recent fighting in Pakistan. According to the UN approximately 1.5 million people have registered as displaced since the beginning of May, with thousands more estimated to be on their way from the conflict affected area in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province.
Thousands of people have been uprooted and fled the fighting, having to walk for hours in intense heat, often leaving with little or no possessions. They are in a state of shock, exhausted and bewildered. Food is in short supply. The risk to people's health will increase with the overcrowding and lack of washing facilities, especially for women.
World March for Peace and Justice
The World March begins in New Zealand on 2 October 2009, the UN “International Day of Non-Violence” and finishes on 2 January 2010 in Argentina.
This is the first World March to circle the earth calling for the end of war and nuclear weapons, and the elimination of violence of all kinds. Check out the New Zealand website for the March.
Pollution in the Niger Delta: A human rights tragedy
Decades of pollution and environmental damage caused by the oil industry in the Niger Delta have had a devastating impact on people’s rights to food, water, health and livelihood, driving them into poverty.
People living in the Niger Delta drink, cook and wash in polluted water. They eat fish contaminated with oil and other toxins. The land they farm is being destroyed. People complain of breathing problems and skin lesions – and yet neither the Nigerian Government nor the oil companies monitor the human impacts of oil pollution.
Within New Zealand, Amnesty’s Environmental Defender’s Network (EDeN) is campaigning on the Niger Delta case to hold the Nigerian Government and multi-national oil companies to account. EDeN is the first Amnesty Network globally to focus on the protection of environmental and human rights issues.
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