A call for solidarity with Haiti
A call for solidarity with Haiti
April 23, 2021
by Haiti Action Committee
This statement, written by Haiti Action Committee and signed by over 60 organizations, commemorates the 10th anniversary of the return to Haiti of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and First Lady Mildred Aristide. It calls for support of the resistance by the Haitian people to the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Jovenel Moise and provides concrete ways for progressive-minded people to take action in solidarity with Haiti.
Ten years ago on March 18, 2011, former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, his wife and colleague Mildred Trouillot Aristide and their two children returned from forced exile in South Africa. Tens of thousands of people lined the streets of Port-au-Prince and poured into the courtyard of their home to greet them, seeing in their return a renewal of hope for a democratic and just Haiti.
Would it surprise you to know that women in Saudi Arabia need a male guardian s permission to get married? Or that if they want to divorce, they have to justify it to a male judge s satisfaction, even though husbands may divorce with neither justification nor judicial decree? Did you know that a Saudi woman s testimony in court is worth only half that of a man’s? A woman s child custody can be revoked if she doesn t dress what is deemed modestly enough to male superiors or if she works full time or remarries.
Many of those practices stem from a particularly strict interpretation of Muslim Sharia law called Wahhabism, according to Human Rights Watch, which says Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world to completely observe it. The Saudi government denies those practices are in the law.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Re: The General Assembly’s consideration on the question of the status of the Human Rights Council
Excellencies,
On 17 June 2011, the General Assembly adopted a resolution which decided “to maintain the status of the Human Rights Council as a subsidiary body of the General Assembly and to consider again the question of whether to maintain this status at an appropriate moment and at a time no sooner than ten years and no later than fifteen years.”
Our organisations wish to express their position regarding the expected consideration of this question by the General Assembly between 2021 and 2026.
17 March 2021
MORNING
The Human Rights Council this morning adopted the Universal Periodic Review outcomes of Bulgaria, Marshall Islands, United States and Croatia.
Speaking on the Universal Periodic Review outcome of Bulgaria were China, Cuba, Ethiopia, India, Libya, Morocco, Nepal, Russian Federation, Sudan, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, United Nations Children s Fund, and Venezuela.
The following civil society organizations took the floor on the Universal Periodic Review outcome of Bulgaria: World Jewish Congress, International Lesbian and Gay Association, Advocates for Human Rights, and International Organization for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Speaking on the Universal Periodic Review outcome of the Marshall Islands were Morocco, Nepal, New Zealand, South Africa, Tunisia, United Nations Population Fund, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti, India, Israel and Libya.
MORNING
Begins Consideration of Universal Periodic Review Outcome of Panama
The Human Rights Council this morning adopted the Universal Periodic Review outcomes of Belarus, Libya and Malawi. It also began its consideration of the Universal Periodic Review outcome of Panama.
Speaking on the Universal Periodic Review outcome of Belarus were Ethiopia, Germany, India, Iran, Lithuania, Nepal, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, Syria, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and Venezuela.
The following civil society organizations also took the floor on the Universal Periodic Review outcome of Belarus: Right Livelihood Award Foundation, Human Rights House Foundation, International Bar Association, Amnesty International, Advocates for Human Rights, and United Nations Watch.