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	USA: Time for renewed vigilance for equality and human rights by Center for Economic & Social Rights (CESR)   The election of Donald Trump as 45th president of the United States begs sober reflection on the role human rights issues have played in the presidential campaign, and on the broader implications his victory has for human rights in the US and internationally.   The president-elect’s campaign for office caused worldwide consternation for the open disdain he showed for human rights and equality. Both in formal debates and off-the-cuff remarks, he denigrated women, Muslims, migrants, people of color and people with disability, among others. He boasted unashamedly about evading the civic duty to pay taxes, pledged to “cancel” the recent global agreement on climate change and threatened to dismantle health care reforms which have extended coverage to millions. In the course of his campaign, he has justified torturing detainees and sexually assaulting women, while widespread allegations have surfaced of the abuse of workers under the real estate mogul’s employment.   Many of these are human rights issues at the core of CESR’s work. The prospect of a presidency which promotes or condones human rights abuses in this way is therefore serious cause for alarm, particularly in light of the racist, repressive and misogynistic discourse and actions unleashed and given legitimacy by his campaign. As in other contexts, rhetorical vilification can be a prelude to victimization in reality, and many people across the country have reported feeling increasingly fearful for their safety and rights because of their gender, color, migration status or sexual orientation, for example.   Many of the grievances which appear to have fuelled Donald Trump’s support are also related to the economic and social rights issues on which we campaign. Deepening deprivation, growing inequality and large-scale blue-collar job losses linked to a globalized economy have fed widespread disillusionment with the political establishment and appear to have been powerful drivers of Trump’s electoral victory. As seen in many other countries, the failure of governments to address these grievances leaves a vacuum that populist politicians fill through vitriolic fear-mongering and scapegoating of migrants, Muslims, minorities and convenient “others” – even if, as in the US, members of these communities are often in reality among the most economically and politically disadvantaged. Demographic analyses of the vote reveals a country starkly divided along lines of race, geography, gender and levels of education, and indicate that Donald Trump’s support was strongest in areas with the highest levels of income inequality.   Economic inequality and its relationship to other entrenched forms of disparity and discrimination is perhaps the paramount public policy concern that this electoral outcome should bring to the fore. The gap between rich and poor in the US has escalated in recent decades to levels not seen since the 1930s. As CESR and US human rights organizations and networks have highlighted, stark income inequalities correlate with pronounced and persistent racial and gender disparities in access to education, health, housing, work and other areas of economic and social rights enjoyment.   Statements made during the campaign raise serious fears that the inequality crisis will become even more acute under the new administration. As a recent CESR report highlights, reducing economic inequality from a human rights perspective requires a set of redistributive and pre-distributive policies such as tackling discrimination, protecting labor rights and levelling the playing field through progressive taxation and well-resourced social services such as health and education.   These policies are diametrically opposed to those espoused by the president-elect. Behind the rhetorical pledge of massive job creation lies an agenda for corporate deregulation with potentially disastrous consequences for labor, social and environmental rights.   Internationally, the likely disengagement from multilateralism could put the brakes on ongoing progress to tackle fundamental global human rights concerns such as climate change, cross-border tax abuse and the sustainable development agenda.   While it has always been a challenge to push US administrations to recognize that human rights apply in the sphere of economic and social policy, advancing economic and social rights against this backdrop will likely be even more of an uphill struggle over the next four years. Longer-term, proposed appointments to the Supreme Court could affect how constitutional values of equality, human rights and social justice are understood and defended for generations to come.   Human rights guarantees contained in the US’s domestic legal order – as well as in international standards which the US historically helped to forge – represent a critical bulwark against the arbitrary abuse of power. The current context demands renewed resistance and readiness by the human rights community to deploy these safeguards whenever people’s rights are under threat from the impact of US policies, within or beyond its borders. It also demands greater efforts to articulate progressive rights-based alternatives to the trickle-down economics that are fuelling social and economic inequality and political disenfranchisement.   This means bringing a critical human rights lens to the dogmatic policy prescriptions of austerity, deregulation, liberalization and privatization that have consolidated their hold in every continent since the global financial crisis of 2008.   As an international, non-partisan organization which seeks to hold all governments accountable to their human rights obligations, CESR will support and complement the efforts of national partners to hold the new US administration accountable to its human rights obligations in all areas of public policy, and to ensure that the legal and institutional protection of all human rights – and the space to claim and defend them – is not eroded but robustly reinforced.   As part of our ongoing work to address widening economic inequality as one of the key human rights issues of our time, we will remain particularly vigilant to ensure that no government is allowed to trump the fundamental premise of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that all human beings are “equal in dignity and rights”. http://bit.ly/2j2tsU1   Our duty is to find hope in darkness, by Darren Walker, Ford Foundation.   Over the past months and weeks, countless conversations with my colleagues, friends, partners, and peers in social justice have focused on the complexities and cruelties of 2016: from Brexit in the United Kingdom, to the rejection of a peace deal in Colombia, to the ongoing violence and refugee crisis in the Middle East, to, of course, America’s presidential election. In all of this, there is so much at stake for our world, so much injustice to assess, understand, and address. There is so much uncertainty.   In these times, it is easy to be discouraged. And disappointment, anger, and confusion are understandable—often reasonable—responses to the challenges we face. But we must do all we can to fight the slide into hopelessness. Here at Ford, we are working to understand and face up to some new and daunting realities. Our grantees and partners, too, are reckoning with the reverberations of recent events—and responding with fresh energy and urgency.   The dedication and vigor they bring to appreciating and challenging injustice is a statement of profound hope. Watching the gathering strength of their efforts has reminded me of the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., that “darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that”—that “hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Those standing on the frontlines of social change are the light, and they are the love. The world desperately needs both.   Hope is not a simple thing; it may not be painless to find or even feel. As I work to understand the past year in the life of my country and our world, I find hope (along with not inconsiderable discomfort) in considering some questions about the institution I lead and the social sector as a whole.   For instance: Have we neglected to recognize and respond to working-class people, regardless of race and geography? Have we heard and heeded the frustrations of communities anxious and unsettled as their economic security erodes? Have we been too focused on familiar ground, overlooking the wider circumstances of suffering and inequality?   These questions are not easy to ask, and answers are not easy to come by. But I am committing the Ford Foundation to pursing them, and to deeper listening and learning. We must be open to the idea, for example, that as the demography and geography of inequality spreads outward, our own efforts may need to become more inclusive, embracing a variety of very different communities. After all, exclusion and hardship are widely shared. Layers of injustice abound. Our work must reach farther than it ever has.   Nearly a half century ago, during the spring of 1968, Dr. King delivered his final sermon. The moment endures in our memory because on the evening before his assassination, Dr. King shared his view from the mountaintop. But too often forgotten are his other words that extraordinary night in Memphis: his advocacy for what he called “dangerous unselfishness” inherent in what he called the “beloved community.”   “The world is all messed up,” he said then. “The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land; confusion all around,” he declared. “But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.”   So, too, should it be for us—right here and now.   The year 2016 is not 1968, or 1860, or 1776. Our moment, and the opportunities we have to protect and pass along the torch of justice, are unique. But we can, and must, learn from history that the greatest threat we face is not terrorism, or environmental crisis, or nuclear proliferation, or the results of any one election. The greatest threat is hopelessness: the hopelessness of many millions around the globe who expressed themselves with their ballots, and the hopelessness of many millions more who expressed themselves by not voting at all.   The hopelessness of so many who are overwhelmed by the scale of the problems facing our world, and frustrated by attempts at solving them that have fallen short.   If we are to overwhelm the forces of inequality and injustice—if we are to dedicate ourselves anew to the hard and heavy lifting of building the beloved community—then the cornerstone of our efforts must be hope. I choose to be hopeful because only through the pursuit of justice can we heal. I choose to be hopeful because every day I see the indispensable contributions of so many who are shining bold and bright against the midnight sky; who are embracing their special obligation to promote “dangerous unselfishness”; who are lighting the path forward.   As Dr. King said during his last evening on this earth, “we’ve got some difficult days ahead.” Together we are poised, and prepared, to keep marching forward. By the light of our collective hope, we will press on through times that test us—and push beyond them. http://bit.ly/2fIUr9X   http://www.gallup.com/poll/201158/skeptical-trump-handle-presidential-duties.aspx http://www.newyorker.com/podcast/political-scene/anna-galland-talks-to-evan-osnos-about-the-future-of-liberal-activism   * Carr Center for Human Rights podcasts. Harvard Kennedy School Professor Kathryn Sikkink discusses how human rights efforts over the last century have largely succeeded in improving the living conditions across the globe, and that even though the work is far from over and setbacks are inevitable, there is plenty of reason to have hope for continued improvement. Sushma Raman, executive director of the Carr Center for Human Rights digs into the challenges facing human rights organizations on both the international and local levels and how they are rising up to meet the challenge. (external link): http://bit.ly/2kEJW5X http://bit.ly/2kNfKZ0   * Carter Center Human Rights Defenders Forum: http://video.cartercenter.org/ Visit the related web page
	In the US, 1 in 5 Women experience sex assault on college campuses by Time, Buzzfeed, agencies USA   June 2016   A US Senator has decried a California judge''s decision to sentence a college athlete to just six months in jail for rape, while signatures on an online petition calling for the judge''s removal has passed 500,000.   Stanford University swimming star Brock Turner was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault of an unconscious woman. He only stopped his attack when two cyclists intervened.   The woman''s emotional court statement recounting the assault and its impact on her life has gone viral on social media attracting 10 million views.   Many have denounced the sentence by Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky as a "slap on the wrist".   "Six months for someone who viciously attacked a woman, especially after she was so brave to come forward, is outrageous," US Senator Barbara Boxer said in a statement.   "This six-month sentence was a slap on the wrist and doesn''t communicate that there are severe consequences for violating women regardless of where it occurs," Santa Clara deputy district attorney Alaleh Kianerci told news agencies.   The woman who was attacked has also expressed her disappointment with the light sentence, telling US media outlet Buzzfeed she hoped the case would "wake people up".   "I want the judge to know that he ignited a tiny fire. If anything, this is a reason for all of us to speak even louder."   In January 2015, the woman went to a party with her sister at a university fraternity and woke up in a hospital having been raped. She learned the graphic details of her attack through news reports, including that she was found "behind a dumpster".   Her victim impact statement, read out in court, was published online and received international coverage.   "I wanted to take off my body like a jacket and leave it at the hospital with everything else," she said in her statement.   Asked for a comment on the controversy over his ruling, Santa Clara Superior Court spokesman Joseph Macaluso said Judge Persky was prohibited from commenting on the case because there may be an appeal. The victim''s name has not been released to the public.   The uproar over the sentence is part of growing outrage in the US, where 1 in 5 Women experience sex assault on college campuses, the New York Times, reported on September 21, 2015.   http://time.com/4359265/stanford-brock-allen-turner-judge-recall/ http://bzfd.it/2s38xqk http://act.weareultraviolet.org/sign/stanford_judgeperskyrecall/ http://rainn.org/news/97-every-100-rapists-receive-no-punishment-rainn-analysis-shows Visit the related web page
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