Guardian reporting ban | Gavel rash | Human rights | Proposed citizenship questions | Sans Serriffe
News that the Guardian has been barred from the Amex stadium (Brighton ban Guardian from stadium over reporting on Tony Bloom, 7 December) follows a previous exclusion order imposed by the club on the local paper, the Evening Argus, for publishing stories unfavourable to the then directors in the 1980s. The paper got around this by covering matches from a back garden overlooking the old Goldstone ground, with the photographer perched up a stepladder. Sadly, this isn’t an option at the totally enclosed Amex arena.
Jim Hatley
Brighton
• I see that in the Wordsearch about courts (8 December), one answer is “gavel”. I thought it was pretty well established now that judges in the UK do not use gavels, such tools only being employed by auctioneers. Are you trying to assert that justice in Britain is available only to the highest bidder?
John Starbuck
Lepton, West Yorkshire
This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
Ministers in Strasbourg have been discussing the European Convention on Human Rights and how it affects migration
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
Keir Starmer has called on European leaders to urgently reform human rights laws so that member states can take tougher action to protect their borders and see off the rise of the populist right across the continent.
But Labour has been condemned by campaigners and MPs who argue these proposals could lead to countries abandoning the world’s most vulnerable people and further demonise refugees.
Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian’s political editor and host of Politics Weekly, Pippa Crerar – Watch on YouTube
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
The prime minister and his counterpart in Denmark want a concerted effort to weaken human rights across Europe. This isn’t pragmatism – it’s cruelty
Steve Valdez-Symonds is refugee and migrant rights director at Amnesty UK
When Keir Starmer and Mette Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister, argue that asylum protections must be rewritten for a new “era”, they are not simply adjusting policy. They are reshaping the moral ground our societies stand on.
Their message is clear: hardening rules so that fewer people receive protection is the way to restore confidence in their leadership. They present this as measured and responsible, even progressive. But what they propose is not a new centre ground; it is a retreat into a politics that regards some lives as less worthy than others.
Steve Valdez-Symonds is refugee and migrant rights director with Amnesty International UK
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
Britain aligns with some of Europe’s hardline governments in calling for change to allow Rwanda-style migration deals
The UK has joined some of Europe’s hardline governments in calling for human rights laws to be “constrained” to allow Rwanda-style migration deals with third countries and more foreign criminals to be deported.
Twenty-seven of the 46 Council of Europe members including the UK, Hungary and Italy have signed an unofficial statement that also urges a new framework for the European convention of human rights, which will narrow the definition of “inhuman and degrading treatment”.
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
Wednesday 10 December is International Human Rights Day. It’s “a day meant to reaffirm dignity and protection for all”, according to Amnesty International UK.
But it’s also the day of a Council of Europe summit. Deputy Prime Minister, Justice Secretary and perpetual disappointment David Lammy is representing the UK.
And he’ll be taking a message that sounds very much at odds with the spirit of Human Rights Day. Because he’ll apparently be suggesting that the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) was “never intended to be frozen in time“.
According to reports, UK ministers want to reinterpret or restrict protections under Article 3 of the ECHR. This prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment.
They also want to change Article 8, covering the right to family life. These proposals would narrow protections for people fleeing war, persecution or serious harm. Even though Article 3 is absolute, without ambiguity, exception or compromise.
Amnesty said that on an anniversary recalling the founding spirit of universal dignity, it would be a profound betrayal if the government used this moment to retreat from fundamental human rights protections.
Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UK’s Refugee and Migrant Rights Programme Director, said:
There is a dreadful irony in our Justice Secretary working with his counterparts to remove or reduce rights on the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
It shows how far we have drifted from the moral resolve of the last century, when our grandparents determined that the fact we are all born free and equal must be protected in law.
Human rights were never meant to be optional or reserved for comfortable and secure times. They were designed to be a compass, our conscience, when the politics of fear and division try to steer us wrong.
To weaken ECHR protections now, on a day meant to reaffirm dignity and protection for all, is not reform. It is moral retreat.
You cannot protect the majority’s rights by attacking the rights of minorities. That is the opposite of universal human rights.
Appeasement of anti-rights demands has never satisfied those who want full withdrawal from the ECHR. It only encourages them to push further.
The very idea that Mr Lammy might soften our commitment to those fleeing war and danger, simply because times are politically difficult, should shame us all.
International human rights treaties are promises. As was clear when they were first made, when times are hardest it is most vital these promises are kept.
Amnesty warns that undermining Article 3 and Article 8 protections will not fix asylum pressures. Instead it will create a two tier system in which some families and lives are treated as disposable.
It adds that the government’s recent asylum plans indicate a shift toward weakening human rights for those most in need. These include restricting refugee status and reducing protections for families and people at risk of destitution.
Polling commissioned by Amnesty International UK shows strong opposition to any weakening of the ECHR:
48% of UK adults say the UK should remain part of the ECHR, while only 26% support withdrawal. This is a near 2 to 1 margin in favour of staying.
87% agree rights and laws must apply equally to everyone, rejecting selective or politically motivated restrictions.
78% believe rights should be permanent, not something a government can reduce.
These findings show that, despite political pressure, the public remains committed to universal and binding human rights protections. The public doesn’t want temporary concessions or politically convenient reinterpretations.
Amnesty is urging the UK government and all participating states to reaffirm, not rewrite, what human rights stand for. Weakening these protections would betray decades of human rights leadership, endanger lives and cast a long-lasting moral shadow over the UK’s commitment to justice and dignity.
Featured image via the Canary
By The Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.
The eight Palestine Action-linked prisoners on hunger strike are mounting the most significant challenge to the British state since the 1981 hunger strikes by republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. Police arrested the activists for anti-genocide actions including alleged raids on weapons manufacturer Elbit and spraying paint on British warplanes.
It was significant that Tommy McKearney, a participant in the 1981 strike, was present a London meeting on Friday, 5 December, to show solidarity with the anti-genocide campaigners.
Also in attendance was Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, a leading advocate for prisoner rights 45 years ago. Partly as a result of that work, loyalist paramilitaries shot her nine times in 1981. Gary Donnelly also spoke at the event. He is one of the Raytheon Nine, the precursor to the establishment of Palestine Action. The group is best known for driving out war criminals Raytheon from Derry after occupying their factory and smashing up computers used for illegal activity.
Irish activists organised the meeting on Friday, whose intention was to show solidarity with the prisoners and all those campaigning for them.
Prison authorities have been subjecting them to appalling conditions of confinement, which include extended periods of solitary confinement, frequent strip searches, censorship of letters and inadequate access to legal representation.
In response to this, and out of a desire to continue highlighting British involvement in so-called Israel’s genocide in Palestine, the strikers have issued five demands.
Among these demands are calls for the de-proscription of Palestine Action, and the closure of Elbit. The number of demands issued echoes that used by republicans in the early 1980s.
As several of the Palestine Action prisoners enter a dangerous new phase of their strike after over four weeks of refusing food, McKearney outlined how close he came to death in 1980:
We were on hunger strike for 53 days. By the final week, I had succumbed to severe malnutrition. I collapsed into a state of semi-consciousness, enduring considerable distress. My eyesight was failing due to the collapse of the optic motor nerve, causing my vision to flicker up and down. My hearing was impaired, and I suffered from intense headaches and sharp pains in my stomach and legs.
This intensified until, unknowingly, I was receiving daily visits from my parents. The medical authorities in the prison believed I was close to death. When the hunger strike finally ended after 53 days, I later learned that doctors had estimated I had only 24 to 48 hours left to live. That is how close I believe I came to dying.
It took me about two months to get back on my feet, and several years before my optic motor nerve was fully restored and my eyesight was steady once more.
McKearney and his fellow strikers campaigned to be treated as political prisoners, rather than the criminals the British state wanted to characterise them as.
Among their demands were the right to refuse wearing a prison uniform and the right to be excused from prison work. Ten prisoners starved to death before the strike was called off on 3 October 1981. The British government under Margaret Thatcher had refused to meet the prisoners’ demands, though negotiations occurred in secret. Thus far, those representing the Palestine Action prisoners have reported no official response from the Starmer regime.
The Labour Party has doubled down on its authoritarian decision to proscribe Palestine Action, treating its young, non-violent members and supporters as terrorists, with thousands arrested, while Downing Street appears indifferent to their suffering, even as they risk permanent harm or death for opposing a holocaust the British state has enthusiastically participated in.
However, Bernadette Devlin McAliskey reminded those in attendance that massive abuses of power have long been the modus operandi of the British ruling class:
…you see that the colonial mindset is deeply embedded in the political class, regardless of party. This is understandable, as it is difficult to give up the power secured on the rape, plunder, and conquest of other continents.
McKearney, in a statement seen by the Canary, outlined the hypocrisy of a state that presents itself as a beacon of lawfulness but which has been engaged in incessant criminality:
This is the state that proudly claims to have inherited an ancient legal system dating back to the Magna Carta. Yet, within living memory the British state’s armed forces have carried out mass killings of innocent, unarmed civilians in Ireland.
He continued:
…simultaneously British governments introduced interment without trial, abolished jury trials and were responsible for brutal interrogation techniques meted out to detainees and persistent mistreatment of prisoners.
McAliskey went on to denounce the cowardice of the media in failing to adequately cover the mistreatment of Palestine Action:
The Filton case is now being used as a gag order on the press. Journalists are using “Filton 24” as an excuse not to report on the hunger strike, claiming it’s “complicated” and requires legal consultation. There is nothing complicated about reporting on a hunger strike.
The Filton 24 are a group of activists cops arrested for targeting Elbit. Among the group is Irish citizen, Jordan Devlin. Despite police arresting him prior to the Palestine Action proscription, prison authorities nonetheless treat him as a terror suspect would be. He has been held on remand since August 2024.
Speaking to the Ditch, Devlin’s sister Brogan told of his treatment and that of others from the Filton group:
They’ve all had their mail withheld. Visits are blocked. Jordan is locked up 23 to 23 and a half hours a day. Anything he’s made, even art projects, is confiscated.
She also said:
They’re x-raying him and strip-searching him twice a day. He’s freezing too.
Jailers often hold the prisoners in cold cells for hours prior to court appearances.
It was left to Ella Moulsdale, close friend of striker Qesser Zuhrah, to highlight the spirit of defiance still being shown by those suffering through the gruelling protest action. Describing a scene that comical, tragic, and inspiring, she spoke of Zuhrah’s recent visit to a hospital. The hospital had no private rooms available, forcing her to use the crowded public waiting area.
Moulsdale explained:
Now, if anybody knows Qesser, this is their first mistake because she made sure everybody in that waiting room knew about the hunger strike, knew about Palestine.
In a further reminder of the link between Ireland and those currently enduring the brutality of the British government, she said Qesser was:
…desperately trying to look around the room and try to find a friendly face. And she told me, “I never look for white people.” But then I remembered the Irish and I thought, “Well, there could be Irish people here.” So she desperately tried to look and see if she could identify Irish people in the waiting room.
Despite dehydration and exhaustion, as the guards dragged Zuhrah out of the hospital:
…she went “Free Palestine!” And the whole waiting room looked up and finally met her gaze.
Featured image via the Crispin Flintoff Show
This post was originally published on Canary.
Exclusive: PM calls for members of European convention on human rights to allow tougher action to protect borders
Keir Starmer has called on European leaders to urgently curb joint human rights laws so that member states can take tougher action to protect their borders and see off the rise of the populist right across the continent.
Before a crucial European summit on Wednesday, the prime minister urged fellow members to “go further” in modernising the interpretation of the European convention on human rights (ECHR) to prevent asylum seekers using it to avoid deportation.
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
The inaugural award bestowed upon the US president could pave the way for many more colourful accolades. I have some ideas …
What a privilege it is to be alive in such a peaceful and prosperous time. If you ignore the genocides in Sudan and Gaza, fighting in eastern Congo, continued attacks on Ukraine, military airstrikes in Myanmar, near-daily strikes on Lebanon, “extrajudicial killings” on Venezualan vessels, increased political violence in the US, along with various other inconvenient issues, then I think we can all agree that Donald Trump has ushered in world peace.
Good luck convincing the nasty Norwegians on the Nobel committee of that, though. They’ve doled out peace prizes to many an alleged war criminal but have a weird grudge against Trump. Still, at least Fifa, an organisation renowned for its impeccable ethics, appreciates the president’s efforts. Last Friday, Trump was awarded the inaugural Fifa peace prize in an over-the-top ceremony that would have made a lesser man, one burdened with a smidgen of self-awareness, feel like a prize idiot.
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Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
My friend Martin Collins, who has died aged 75 from complications brought on by dementia, was a human rights activist and political organiser with a particular focus on Ireland.
Around 1994 he began working in parliament for Kevin McNamara MP, organising the Agreed Ireland Forum, which sought support for the Good Friday agreement across the parties in Westminster.
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
Public figures sign letter saying plan to reinterpret ECHR for asylum seekers is ‘affront to us all’ and a threat to security
The actors Michael Palin, Stephen Fry and Joanna Lumley are among 21 well-known figures calling on Keir Starmer to drop plans to weaken human rights law and instead “take a principled stand” for torture victims, on the eve of a crucial European summit.
As David Lammy prepares to attend a Council of Europe meeting in Strasbourg that will discuss legal changes to stop bogus asylum claims, the novelist Julian Barnes, the actor Adrian Lester and the comedian Aisling Bea have also signed a letter telling the prime minister: “Any attempt at undermining universal protections is an affront to us all and a threat to the security of each and every one of us.”
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
In a new political stunt by Israel’s genocidal far-right, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and his fascist party (Otzma Yehudit), wore noose-shaped lapel pins to a legislative briefing.
The meeting revisited a bill Ben-Gvir has been lobbying for with perverse delight, which would legalise the execution of Palestinian detainees.
The fascist minister defended the hate symbol, arguing it:
represents one of the options for carrying out the death penalty. Of course, there is the option of hanging, the electric chair, and also lethal injection.
Ben-Gvir also gloated that “hundreds” of Israeli doctors have contacted him offering to assist with executions. This came despite the Israeli Medical Association’s unequivocal declaration that such actions would be unethical:
Since it was announced that doctors would not want to help with the law, I have received a hundred calls from doctors saying, ‘Itamar, just tell me when’.
The claim is disturbingly believable. Israeli doctors are complicit in the carceral treatment of Palestinians. Thousands of Palestinians continue to be held in Iraqi prisons without charge, subject to torture and sexual violence.
Otzma Yehudit — which incidentally means ‘woe’ in Hebrew — is a ‘Kahanist’ party founded on the racist Zionist teachings of extremist rabbi Meir Kahane.
Despite Kahanism’s long history of violence, the Starmer government has not designated it a terrorist group. Instead, it proscribed the non-violent activist group, Palestine Action in June under pressure from pro-Israel groups sympathetic to Kahanism.
The proposed law is both deeply racist and vicious.
It mandates the death penalty, without any judicial discretion, and applied solely for incidents involving the death of Israeli citizens. It will not apply to extremist Israeli settler groups who slaughter and taunt Palestinian communities. Human rights think-tank Zulat for Equality and Human Rights condemned the bill, saying:
that the death penalty would be imposed in Israel on the basis of nationality: Only someone who harms Jews would be sentenced to death.
Ben-Gvir was filmed in October ranting at Israeli captives, saying that the removal of Palestinians rights isn’t enough, and that they should be killed.
Nooses have long been used to terrorise colonised and oppressed peoples, from the KKK in the US to apartheid-era South Africa.
The US NAACP civil rights group is pushing to classify even the symbolic use of a noose against minorities as a hate crime. Israel is unlikely to follow suit anytime soon.
Featured image via the Canary
By Skwawkbox
This post was originally published on Canary.
Prisons in Pakistan are overcrowded and jam-packed with thousands of inmates living under conditions that take away their health, dignity, and hope. Behind the bars lies a human rights crisis that goes well beyond the mandate of official reports or the business of courtroom debate.
Pakistan’s prisons now confine around 102,026 inmates despite being built to hold only about 65,811. This means the system operates at 152 percent of its capacity. Punjab alone houses more than 61,000 prisoners in space designed for just 37,000. Sindh prisons run at 161 percent, while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan exceed safe limits by 20 to 30 percent. The Justice Project Pakistan calls this overcrowding “one of the country’s most urgent and ignored humanitarian failures.” More than 74 percent of those behind bars are under-trial detainees still waiting for their first hearing. They are the forgotten faces of a justice system that moves too slow and punishes before proving guilt.
Deeply entrenched within the foundations of the very system lies the root cause of this crisis. The slow pace of the courts makes a glacier’s movements look fast, with delays for months or years on hearing dates. The police rush to effect arrests; bail is nonexistent or is set so high that it becomes unaffordable for many. The National Commission for Human Rights has called it a “silent crisis of neglect.” Old laws inherited from colonial times still favor detention over release. Governance failures and limited budgets only worsen the pressure. Political promises of reform appear and vanish, leaving cells more crowded than ever. Pakistan’s rate of pre-trial detention is among the highest in South Asia, even surpassing India and Bangladesh, according to UNODC data.
Inside the walls, conditions are grim. Inmates often share one toilet for fifty people. Meals are meager and medical care is rare. Human Rights Watch has described prisons as “nightmare zones for health and dignity.” Tuberculosis, skin infections, and HIV spread unchecked in cramped cells. Outbreaks at the Adiala Jail have become national concerns, but normal health care is rarely allowed. The harsh realities are even more so for female inmates. Two hundred inmates are cramped into one women’s jail in Lahore, which was originally built for half that number. Reports of harassment by staff are common. Pregnant women receive no special care, and survivors of abuse rarely get counseling. Juvenile offenders share space with hardened criminals, turning confinement into a school of crime rather than a chance for reform.
Overcrowding also destroys any hope of rehabilitation. Workshops, education, and counseling programs rarely function. Guards are overworked and untrained, and violence among inmates is frequent. Drugs circulate freely, and fights break out daily. According to Penal Reform International, more than sixty percent of prisoners reoffend within a year of release. Jails that should reform instead produce more hardened criminals. Society pays the price through rising crime, mistrust, and fear. In Karachi, a prison designed for 2,400 people now confines about 8,500. Three inmates died in violent clashes last year alone.
Courts have occasionally intervened. During the pandemic, the Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered the release of 25,000 under-trial prisoners to ease congestion. Yet numbers climbed back quickly. However, the prison reform panel remains unactive, which the Wafaqi Mohtasib (Federal Ombudsman) had formed in 2015. None of the bail reforms or alternative sentencing have been implemented yet as part of the National Jail Reform Policy 2024. Such a debate was stalled in Parliament in 2023 over the plea bargains and parole under the distracting political environment. Provincial budgets are shrinking with prison funds cut by 10 percent this year. Without consistent political will, even sound policies turn into paperwork.
There are practical ways forward. Bail reform must take priority. Judges should grant bail for minor, non-violent offenses unless a real flight risk exists. Introducing plea bargains and fast-track trials could cut delays significantly. Parole boards could free low-risk prisoners after serving part of their sentences.
Community service and fines should be imposed instead of imprisonment for petty crimes. With such non-custodial measures and justice reforms in India have had limited success. This burden could be eased through rehabilitation interventions for drug users instead of imprisonment. Norwegian practice may provide an appropriate example for local adaptation, emphasizing rehabilitation instead of punishment. UNODC continues to promote these alternatives in South Asia with an emphasis on human rights and economic benefits.
The civil society is the lifeline of prison reforms. Amnesty International, Justice Project Pakistan, and independent lawyers have filed petitions and written detailed reports about many grave violations and conditions of inhumanity. There is also the media, which is beginning to make a difference; a Dawn investigation in 2024 led to a review of Punjab’s overcrowded prisons. Such successes, however, have been few and far between; for instance, part of the creation of secure bail for 500 women was the result of concerted efforts from human rights groups in 2022. So far, limited change has come from sustained activism, the involvement of the religious sector in seeking rehabilitation funding, and pressure from the public.
The overcrowding in prisons in Pakistan reveals deeper moral and administrative failure. It’s not just about poor infrastructure, in fact it lies deep inside justice and humanity. To neglect those who are in jail threatens both prisoners and society.
Disease, violence, and radicalization fester in these broken spaces. Building more prisons will not solve anything unless the present system learns to dispense justice speedier and fairer.
Conclusion
Pakistan is at a juncture, and prison overcrowding is no longer a bureaucratic issue at this point: it has now become a matter of national conscience. In order to restore the balance of justice, state action must be immediate and urgent: speedier trials, changes in the laws governing bail, and humane forms of punishment to replace imprisonment. No longer time for promises. Every day of delay adds to the mute suffering of thousands. True justice cannot exist while its foundations remain trapped behind bars.
The post Pakistan’s Packed Prisons first appeared on Dissident Voice.This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.
Exclusive: Ministers face pushback over potential changes to asylum seekers’ rights before Council of Europe meeting
Human rights groups have warned UK ministers against weakening protections against torture or other mistreatment for asylum seekers before a crucial European summit this week on how to respond to migration.
David Lammy, the justice secretary, is expected to help lead arguments at the Council of Europe meeting on Wednesday on how the European convention on human rights (ECHR) could be reinterpreted to limit the scope of rights under article 3, which prohibits torture and “inhuman or degrading treatment”.
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
Home Office drive to stop small boats crossing Channel is handing more power to people smugglers, report finds
The UK’s policy to stop asylum seekers from crossing the Channel in small boats has led to an increase in violence, deaths and smuggler control, but has not deterred arrivals, according to a report by human rights organisations.
The 176-page report from Humans for Rights Network, includes contributions from 17 refugee and human rights organisations operating in northern France and six in the UK.
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
Benny Zable worries Victoria police powers will target mask wearers, while Tarneen Onus Browne warns it will ‘supercharge the harassment’ of Indigenous people
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An organiser of Melbourne’s annual Invasion Day rally and an 80-year-old environmental activist are leading a federal court challenge against a Victoria police declaration allowing them to stop and search anyone in the CBD for the next six months.
The Human Rights Law Centre, acting for plaintiffs Tarneen Onus Browne and Benny Zable, filed the challenge on Monday and said they want it heard by the federal court before an Invasion Day rally planned for 26 January.
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
Imran Khan is being held in a death cell in solitary confinement, his court-imposed rights ignored. He’s been held for years on one bogus charge after another
The post Imran Khan is Alive, but He’s Not Well first appeared on Dissident Voice.This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.
The world’s largest continent is home to 60% of its population and produces more than half of all crops, but its food security is facing a critical threat.
Asia’s already alarming water crisis is set to deepen three times more quickly over the next decade, with a combination of climate change plunging an additional billion people into water stress. With agriculture taking up 80% of the region’s freshwater supply, scarcity will disrupt food production and exacerbate food insecurity.
Action to protect the continent’s food security and maintain a stable water supply “must and can be taken now”, according to the latest Asia Food Challenge report by Oliver Wyman, Rabobank and Temasek.
The analysis lays out measures that could save enough water to fill 85 million Olympic-sized swimming pools, creating $141B in combined financial benefits each year.
“Rising water stress is threatening crop yields, livestock health and food security across the region,” said Dirk Jan Kennes, head of Rabobank’s RaboResearch Food & Agribusiness division in Asia. “The good news is that proven technologies and practices already exist to improve water efficiency and reduce usage.”
He added: “By investing in water distribution infrastructure and sustainable farming practices such as precision irrigation and soil management, stakeholders can collectively address the challenge of water stress while enhancing resilience across the entire food system.”
According to the report, Asia’s water crisis is a result of deeply entrenched structural issues. Agricultural production here is dominated by water-thirsty crops like rice, wheat, sugarcane, alfalfa, and cotton – and historical diets and cultural preferences have “locked farmers into practices that extract beyond ecological limits”.
Government subsidies have made such crops economically attractive, but environmentally costly. In India, for instance, free electricity and procurement support have embedded rice paddy cultivation in Punjab, where groundwater is being extracted at over 150% of annual recharge rates now.
Subsidies and financial markets also reward output over efficiency, and water risks remain systemically unpriced. There’s more funding towards water-heavy crops, and water-smart technologies remain underfunded and out of reach for smallholder farmers (who produce nearly 80% of Asia’s food).
Governance gaps make things worse. The report suggests that water policy can be fragmented across government ministries and tiers, with different authorities pursuing their own mandates and neglecting the bigger picture.
Meanwhile, irrigation and drainage networks built in the mid-20th century now suffer from heavy conveyance losses, sedimentation, and inadequate upkeep. Weak monitoring and water accounting mean that few countries can reliably track withdrawals or enforce penalties for overextraction.
Additionally, environmental externalities – like physical water scarcity, climate volatility, and soil or land degradation – exacerbate Asia’s water stress. Groundwater tables are sinking below viable extraction depths, threatening the natural buffer that can protect against surface water shortages, and rivers and reservoirs don’t provide reliable flows to meet agricultural demand anymore.
These effects are intensified by climate volatility, with rainfall more erratic, droughts longer, and flooding events more extreme. Soil and land degradation are further weakening agricultural productivity, with erosion stripping away fertile topsoil and rising salinity reducing plants’ ability to take up water.
A handful of technologies and initiatives can actually deliver water savings at scale. The single largest opportunity comes from irrigation efficiency – only one in 10 Asian farms use modern systems, versus 21% globally. Even a modest increase to close this gap could save 83 billion cubic metres of water over the next decade.
The second most effective lever is a shift towards alternative food sources and seed innovation. Crops like rice and wheat use up a disproportionately high amount of water, only surpassed by meat products like beef, pork and chicken.
Instead, more efficient plants like millets and sorghum need 60-70% less water on average. And pulses like lentils and chickpeas, which contain 20-25% protein (versus 23-27% of protein from animal sources), require 70-90% less water than meat.
According to the report, replacing just 2% of rice, wheat and maize with water-efficient crops like millets and sorghum, and 2% of conventional meat with cultivated or plant-based proteins could yield another 57 billion cubic metres in water savings.
Aside from these two measures, improving water distribution networks by lining 16% more agricultural canals can save 44 billion cubic metres of water; regenerating soil on 22% of degraded land in Asia can deliver 18 billion cubic metres in savings. Moreover, applying precision farming technologies, like IoT sensors, greenhouses, and controlled environment agriculture, to just under 1% of irrigated land can save 11 billion cubic metres of water.
By adopting these solutions, policymakers and investors can help lower on-farm water use by about 10% – slowing the growth of water stress by 2% – and save a combined 214 billion cubic metres of water by 2035. With greater adoption levels, this could stretch to a further 5-10% reduction.
Implementing these strategies would require a one-off investment of around $136B, delivering annual benefits of $141B. More efficient water and input use can boost crop yields by up to 40% and cut fertiliser 30%, alone producing $98B in added value from higher productivity and lower costs. Further, these measures would cut drought-related yield losses by 6-50%, and halve emissions from reduced flooding.
Still, water solutions only get 1-2% of overall climate tech funding, and most of this capital is concentrated in the West, highlighting an urgent need and opportunity for greater investment in Asia. “Addressing Asia’s water challenges will require directing targeted investment to strengthening the foundations of our water economy,” said Anuj Maheswari, head of agrifood at Temasek.
“By focusing resources on scalable, impactful solutions, we can embed innovation at the heart of the water economy, accelerating adoption and delivering meaningful, lasting benefits across the region,” he added. “Through strong partnerships, we can help ensure water security and resilience for communities across Asia.”
The post Efficient Irrigation & Dietary Shifts the Top Ways to Prevent Water Stress For One Billion Asians appeared first on Green Queen.
This post was originally published on Green Queen.
On Thursday, the London Irish Brigade, supported by anti-Zionist Jews, protested outside Downing Street against the Starmer regime and corporate media. They convened in solidarity with pro-Palestine political prisoners — currently on hunger strike — condemning the media’s complicity in ignoring their plight.
These prisoners have been incarcerated for over a year without trial for opposing Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
They have the backing of pro-Palestine Jewish activists. They told the Canary that the Holocaust against Jews compels them to oppose the genocide of Palestinians.
Talking to the Canary, organisers from the London Irish Brigade highlighted that as Irish people, they are all too familiar with the reality of occupation and the importance of hunger strikes in bringing about change.
The London Irish Brigade said:
We the London Irish Brigade appeal to people to join us opposite Downing St. to show support and solidarity for the six unselfish young Palestine activists on hunger strike in British prisons.
As Irish people we have have seen before when activists for justice and freedom endure inhumane conditions and have their calls to be treated fairly before the law ignored. In that case, the prisoner must make a decision to accept or take control of their predicament. The hunger strikers have done the latter and they need all the support we can give them.
Join us!
Chiara Contrino sent in photographs:
Activist photographer ‘Better than Real’ was also in attendance:
Brigade organiser Frank McGlynn gave a speech:
In this shared fight, Irish activists, and Jews against genocide, are standing firm with Palestine against oppression, genocide, apartheid and the colonisers’ land theft.
Featured image via the London Irish Brigade
By Skwawkbox
This post was originally published on Canary.
Official data cannot show what impact ECHR has on asylum cases, says leading thinktank Migration Observatory
Gaps in official migration statistics are hampering public debate and policy decisions including on cases relating to human rights laws, according to a leading thinktank.
The University of Oxford’s Migration Observatory has identified 10 areas where information is lacking, including immigration enforcement and returns, and the size of the population living undocumented in the UK.
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
Sport and Rights Alliance has made seven requests for action
Amnesty International USA worried by US government’s role
Fifa risks becoming “a public relations tool of an increasingly authoritarian US government”, human rights organisations have warned as they call on football’s international governing body to do more to protect the rights of residents and supporters at the World Cup next summer.
With concerns rising over the possibility of local communities and travelling fans being subjected to immigration raids or arbitrary detention during the tournament, the Sport and Rights Alliance has made seven requests for action from Fifa before the World Cup draw in Washington on Friday.
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
Exclusive: Analyst claims UK officials deleted alert to threat of genocidal violence by paramilitaries to protect UAE
Warnings of a possible “genocide” in Sudan were removed from a UK risk assessment by Foreign Office officials, according to a whistleblower whose testimony raises fresh concern over British failures to act on the atrocities unfolding in the war-ravaged country.
The threat analyst said they were prevented from warning that genocide could occur in Darfur by Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) officials in a humanitarian risk assessment collated days after Sudan’s brutal civil war erupted in April 2023.
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
British history. Its political system has utterly failed to confront a genocide.
Rather, that system has allowed the British establishment to be complicit in one of the worst horrors of our time — Israel’s two-year offensive against Palestinians, complete with ethnic cleansing, systematic attacks on schools and hospitals, and crimes against humanity.
Now, under a current supposed ceasefire, Israel is still killing Palestinians and their plight in Gaza remains dire, as the world sees the extent of the mass destruction visited on them.
Throughout the attacks on Palestinians in Gaza, British leaders have actively cooperated with Israel in their military, trade and diplomatic policies.
The post Gaza Reveals How Britain Is Run appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.
Pop star Sabrina Carpenter has hit out at the White House using her music in a video promoting ICE — i.e. the American Gestapo:
this video is evil and disgusting. Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda.
— Sabrina Carpenter (@SabrinaAnnLynn) December 2, 2025
There was a moment after Donald Trump’s second election when the cowardly American media outlets kowtowed to Trump. Seemingly, they thought that Trump hadn’t just won the White House; he’d also won the culture:
Morning Joe co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski are now at the stage where they are whining that they are getting pushback from their viewers and guests for going to meet Donald Trump and kissing the ring.
Get bent, Joe and Mika.
And shame on MSNBC for all of this. pic.twitter.com/jeAhvTjP5G
— Art Candee
(@ArtCandee) December 5, 2024
Now, after less than a year back in power, Trump has completely squandered the ill-deserved respect he had. As such, celebrities like Carpenter clearly see no down side to speaking out against him. And fair play to Sabrina, she didn’t hold back.
— MITCHƎL | MⱯYHEM (@mitchel_dk) December 2, 2025
To give you an idea of how bad things are for Trump:
This has been the worst 10-day polling period for Trump in his 2nd term.
His overall net approval hit record lows in 5 polls.
His net approval with independents is down 39 pts from January to -43 pts.
His net approval on inflation is down to -34 pts.
Just atrocious. pic.twitter.com/cosYEO0xb0
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) November 21, 2025
Gallup’s poll = disaster for Trump. Nixon’s the only prez with a worse net approval at this point in a 2nd term than him.
Trump must break history for the GOP to keep House control in 2026.
No 2nd term pres’ net approval rose more than 5 pts from this pt through the midterms. pic.twitter.com/h4g2KAk9qV
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) December 1, 2025
The video Carpenter took offence to was promoting the US Immigration and Customer Enforcement agency (ICE). When people describe ICE as a ‘Gestapo’, it’s because they run around in masks abducting people off the street and causing trouble:
This is what happens after ICE disappears people. Your city/community is forced to spend tax dollars cleaning up the mess they leave behind. My neighbor had a gun pulled in his face today as he documented an ICE abduction. ICE is evil #ICE pic.twitter.com/j0N0CrRMZx
— Thomas Chadwick (@Thomas_Chadwick) October 31, 2025
“ICE pepper sprayed a disabled woman using a cane, after an abduction raid in her neighborhood. A St. Paul, MN PD Officer then shoves her down hard to the ground after she was already incapacitated and stumbling backwards. (11/25/25)” pic.twitter.com/JgkJg5tb0P
— Ted Cruz Called The FBI on me (@weareronin47) November 26, 2025
with ice kidnapping folks off the streets, who’s to say this isn’t a guy pretending to be ice who’s kidnapping this lady to assault her again? a comment said this could be the guy who assaulted her in the first place. it’s horrifying https://t.co/R2bgtEvl4G
— Caroline Pronounchek (@femmepills) December 1, 2025
Oh, and the Tories’ Kemi Badenoch plans to emulate this in the UK because, of course, she does:
My message is clear: if you’re here illegally, you will be detained and deported.
Our new Removals Force, modelled on US ICE, will deport 150,000 illegal migrants each year. pic.twitter.com/mjQwuSe77w
— Kemi Badenoch (@KemiBadenoch) October 5, 2025
Given that Trump is a petty, vindictive narcissist who spends too much time on social media, he’ll no doubt respond to Sabrina at some point. As with everything he, it’ll only makes his polling worse…still…we can’t imagine that exchange going well for him.
After all, this is the guy who’s currently trying to convince people who are feeling the pinch that the concept of ‘affordability’ is a “Democrat scam”:
This is objectively some of the worst messaging from a politician in history https://t.co/6uTNCKB2qY
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) December 2, 2025
Featured image via Sabrina Carpenter
By Willem Moore
This post was originally published on Canary.
The UN Committee Against Torture has released a new report accusing Israel of employing a “de facto state policy” of torture in an “organized and widespread” manner.
The report highlights how Israel does not have any legislation criminalizing torture, adding that Israeli law protects officials from culpability.
“The committee was deeply concerned about reports indicating a de facto state policy of organized and widespread torture and ill-treatment during the reporting period, which had gravely intensified since 7 October 2023,” the UN report said.
The post UN Report: Israel Maintains ‘De Facto State Policy Of Organized Torture’ appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.
COMMENTARY: By David Robie
Vinzons is a quiet coastal town in the eastern Philippines province of Camarines Norte in Bicol. With a spread out population of about 45,000. it is known for its rice production, crabs and surfing beaches in the Calaguas Islands.
But the town is really famous for one of its sons — Wenceslao “Bintao” Vinzons, the youngest lawmaker in the Philippines before the Japanese invasion during the Second World War who then took up armed resistance.
He was captured and executed along with his family in 1942.
One of the most interesting assets of the municipality of Vinzons — named after the hero in 1946, the town previously being known as Indan — is his traditional family home, which has recently been refurbished as a local museum to tell his story of courage and inspiration.
“He is something of a forgotten hero, student leader, resistance fighter, former journalist — a true hero,” says acting curator Roniel Espina.
As well as a war hero, Vinzons is revered for his progressive politics and was known as the “father of student activism” in the Philippines. His political career began at the University of Philippines in the capital Manila where he co-founded the Young Philippines Party.
The Vinzons Hall at UP-Diliman was named after him to honour his student leadership exploits.
Student newspaper editor
He was the editor-in-chief of the Philippine Collegian, the student newspaper founded in 1922.
At 24, Vinzons became the youngest delegate to the 1935 Constitutional Convention and six years later at the age of 30 he was elected Governor of Camarine Norte in 1941 — the same year that Japan invaded.
In fact, the invasion of the Philippines began on 8 December 1941 just 10 hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbour in Hawai’i.
The invading forces tried to pressure Governor Vinzons in his provincial capital of Daet to collaborate. He absolutely refused. Instead, he took to the countryside and led one of the first Filipino guerilla resistance forces to rise up against the Japanese.
His initial resistance was successful with the guerrilla forces carrying out sudden raids before liberating Daet. He was eventually captured and executed by the Japanese.
The exact circumstances are still uncertain as his body was never recovered, but the museum does an incredible job in piecing together his life along with his family and their tragic sacrifice for the country.
One plaque shows an image of Vinzons along with his father Gabino, wife Liwayway, sister Milagros, daughter Aurora and son Alexander (no photo of him was actually recovered).
According to the legend on the plaque:
“Wenceslao Vinzons with his father disappeared mysteriously – and were never see again. The Japanese sent out posters in Camarines Norte expressing regret that on the way to Siain, Quezon, Vinzons was shot while attempting to escape. ‘So sorry please.’
“The remains of the body of Vinzons, his father, wife, two chidren and sister have never been found.”
The Japanese Empire as portrayed in the Vinzons Museum. Video: APR
Imperial Japan showcase
One room of the museum is dedicated as a showcase to Imperial Japan and its brutal invasion across a great swathe of Southeast Asia and the brave Filipino resistance in response.
A special feature of the museum is how well it portrays typical Filipino lifestyle and social mores in a home of the political class in the 1930s.
When I visited the museum and talked to staff and watched documentaries about “Bintao” Vinzons’ life, one question in particular intrigued me: “Why was he thought of as a ‘forgotten hero’?”
According to acting curator Espina, “It’s partly because Camarines Norte is not as popular and well known as some other provinces. So some of the notable achievements of Vinzons do not have a high profile around in other parts of the country.”
Based at the museum is the town’s principal Tourism Officer Florence G Mago. She is optimistic about how the Vinzons Museum can attract more visitors to the town.
“We have put a lot of effort into developing this museum and we are proud of it. It is a jewel in the town.”
This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.
US president says he will look into reports US military was told to conduct follow-up attack on suspected drug vessel
Donald Trump has said he will look into reports that the US military conducted a follow-up strike on a boat in the Caribbean that it believed to be ferrying drugs, killing survivors of an initial missile attack.
The US president also said on Sunday he “wouldn’t have wanted” a second strike on the vessel during the incident on 2 September – the first publicised operation in a series of attacks in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific that Washington says are aimed at combatting the drug trade.
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific reporter
Four Papuan political prisoners have been sentenced to seven months’ imprisonment on treason charges.
But a West Papua independence advocate says Indonesia is using its law to silence opposition.
In April this year, letters were delivered to government institutions in Sorong West Papua, asking for peaceful dialogue between Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto and a group seeking to make West Papua independent of Indonesia, the Federal Republic of West Papua.
Four people were arrested for delivering the letters, and this triggered protests, which became violent.
West Papua Action Aotearoa’s Catherine Delahunty said Indonesia claims the four, known as the Sorong Four, caused instability.
“What actually caused instability was arresting people for delivering letters, and the Indonesians refused to acknowledge that actually people have a right to deliver letters,” she said.
“They have a right to have opinions, and they will continue to protest when those rights are systematically denied.”
Category of ‘treason’
Indonesia’s Embassy based in Wellington said the central government had been involved in the legal process, but the letters fell into the category of “treason” under the national crime code.
Delahunty said the arrests were in line with previous action the Indonesian government had taken in response to West Papua independence protests.
“This is the kind of use of an abuse of law that happens all the time in order to shut down any form of dissent and leadership. In the 1930s we would call this fascism. It is a military occupation using all the law to actually suppress the people.”
Delahunty said the situation was an abuse of human rights and it was happening less than an hour away from Darwin in northern Australia.
The spokesperson for Indonesia’s embassy said the government had been closely monitoring the case at arm’s length to avoid accusations of overreach.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.
COMMENTARY: By Ian Powell
The origin of the expression “tuckered out” goes back to the east of the United States around the 1830s.
After New Englanders began to compare the wrinkled and drawn appearance of overworked and undernourished horses and dogs to the appearance of tucked cloth, it became associated with people being exhausted.
Expressions such as this can be adapted, sometimes with a little generosity, to apply to other circumstances.
This adaptation includes when a prominent far right propagandist and activist who, in a level of frustration that resembles mental exhaustion, lashes out against far right leaders and governments that he has been strongly supportive of.
This came to my attention when reading a frustrated far right lament reposted on Facebook (27 November) by British-Pakistani socialist Tariq Ali.
If anything meets the threshold for a passionate expression of grief or sorrow, this one did.
The lament was from Tucker Carlson, an American far right political commentator who hosted a nightly political talk show on Fox News from 2016 to 2023 when his contract was terminated.
Since then he has hosted his own show under his name on fellow extremist Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter). Arguably Carlson is the most influential far right host in the United States (perhaps also more influential than the mainstream rightwing).
He is someone who the far right government of Israel considered to be an unshakable ally.
Carlson’s lament
The lament is brief but cuts to the chase:
There is no such thing as “God’s chosen people”.
God does not choose child-killers.
This is heresy — these are criminals and thieves.
350 million Americans are struggling to survive,
and we send $26 billion to a country most Americans can’t even name the capital of.
His lament doubled as a “declaration of war” on the entire narrative Israel uses to justify its genocide in Gaza. But Carlson didn’t stop there. He went on to expose the anger boiling inside the United States.
The clip hit the US media big time including 48 million views in the first nine hours. Subsequently a CNN poll showed that 62 percent of Americans agree with Carlson and that support for Israel among Americans is collapsing.
But Carlson went much further directly focussing on fellow far right Donald Trump who he had “supported”.
By focussing the US’s money, energy, and foreign policy on Israel, Trump was betraying his promises to Americans.
This signifies a major falling out including a massive public shift against Israel (which is also losing its media shield), the far right breaking ranks, and panic within the political establishment.
It should also be seen in the context of the extraordinary public falling out with President Trump of another leading far right extremist (and conspiracy theorist) Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. In addition to the issues raised by Carlson she also focussed on Trump’s handling of the Epstein files controversy.
Far right in New Zealand politics
The far right publicly fighting among itself over its core issues is very significant for the US given its powerful influence.
This influence includes not just the presidency but also both Congress and the Senate, one of the two dominant political parties, and the Supreme Court (and a fair chunk of the rest of the judiciary).
Does this development offer insights for politics in New Zealand? To begin with the far right here has nowhere near the same influence as in the United States.
The parties that make up the coalition government are hard right rather than far right (that is, hardline but still largely respectful of the formal democratic institutions).
It is arguably the most hard right government since the early 1950s at least. But this doesn’t make it far right. I discussed this difference in an earlier Political Bytes post (November 3): Distinguishing far right from hard right.
Specifically:
…”hard right” for me means being very firm (immoderate) near the extremity of rightwing politics but still respect the functional institutions that make formal democracy work.
In contrast the “far right” are at the extremity of rightwing politics and don’t respect these functional institutions. There is an overlapping blur between the “hard right” and “far right”.
Both the NZ First and ACT parties certainly have far right influences. The former’s deputy leader Shane Jones does a copy-cat imitation of Trumpian bravado.
Meanwhile, there is an uncomfortable rapport between ACT (particularly its leader and Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour) and the far right Destiny Church (particularly its leader Brian Tamaki).
But this doesn’t come close to meeting the far right threshold for both NZ First and ACT.
The far right itself also has its internal conflicts. The most prominent group within this relatively small extremist group is the Destiny Church. However, its relationship with other sects can be adversarial.
Insights for New Zealand politics nevertheless
Nevertheless, the internal far right fallout in the United States does provide some insights for public fall-outs within the hard right in New Zealand.
This is already becoming evident in the three rightwing parties making up the coalition government.
For example:
These tensions are well short of the magnitude of Tucker Carlson’s public attack on Israel over Gaza and President Trump’s leadership.
However, there are signs with the hard right in New Zealand of at least starting to feel “tuckered out” of collaborating collegially in their coalition government arrangement and showing signs of pending laments.
Too early to tell yet but we shall see.
Ian Powell is a progressive health, labour market and political “no-frills” forensic commentator in New Zealand. A former senior doctors union leader for more than 30 years, he blogs at Second Opinion and Political Bytes, where this article was first published. Republished with the author’s permission.
This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.
