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Amnesty says it documented at least 115 killings by security forces this year in restive southeastern states.
He replaces Debretsion Gebremichael, whose immunity from prosecution was removed Thursday.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International said Thursday that scores of civilians were killed in a \"massacre\" in the Tigray region, that witnesses blamed on forces backing the local ruling party.
The \"massacre\" is the first reported incident of large-scale civilian fatalities in a week-old conflict between the regional ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), and the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, winner of last year's Nobel Peace Prize.
\"Amnesty International can today confirm... that scores, and likely hundreds, of people were stabbed or hacked to death in Mai-Kadra (May Cadera) town in the southwest of Ethiopia's Tigray Region on the night of 9 November,\" the rights group said in a report.
Amnesty said it had \"digitally verified gruesome photographs and videos of bodies strewn across the town or being carried away on stretchers.\"
The dead \"had gaping wounds that appear to have been inflicted by sharp weapons such as knives and machetes,\" Amnesty said, citing witness accounts.
Witnesses said the attack was carried out by TPLF-aligned forces after a defeat at the hands of the Ethiopian military, though Amnesty said it \"has not been able to confirm who was responsible for the killings\".
It nonetheless called on TPLF commanders and officials to \"make clear to their forces and their supporters that deliberate attacks on civilians are absolutely prohibited and constitute war crimes\".
Abiy ordered military operations in Tigray on November 4, saying they were prompted by a TPLF attack on federal military camps -- a claim the party denies.
The region has been under a communications blackout ever since, making it difficult to verify competing claims on the ground.
Abiy said Thursday his army had made major gains in western Tigray.
Thousands of Ethiopians have fled across the border into neighboring Sudan, and the UN is sounding the alarm about a humanitarian crisis in Tigray.
Chicago's summer of unrest because of strained relations between the police and minorities continued unabated this past weekend, with protesters clashing with authorities and police releasing videos of those who looted high-end stores in the [...]
From the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul to the Streets of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, Louisville, Atlanta, Washington, DC, and New York City, and the bright lights of the Big Apple, African Americans are expressing outrage over the police killing of George Floyd, the latest in a country-mile long list of Black men and women murdered under the color of law.
New York’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo joined an extensive list of politicians condemning the action of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, 44, who, along with three other officers, were videotaped using excessive force on Floyd.
Protests continue over the death of George Floyd, who died after being restrained by Minneapolis police officers.
(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Los Angeles
In this photo taken with a wide angle lens, demonstrators stand in front of Los Angeles City Hall during a protest over the death of George Floyd Tuesday, June 2, 2020, in Los Angeles.
(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
New York
Protesters gather at Foley Square as part of a demonstration to protest the death of George Floyd, who died May 25 after he was pinned at the neck by a Minneapolis police officer, Tuesday, June 2, 2020, in New York.
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Women and African American History: 1700-1799
New York passed a law prohibiting public gatherings by three or more enslaved Africans, prohibiting testimony in court by enslaved Africans against white colonists, and prohibiting trade with enslaved Africans.
Virginia Slave Codes of 1705 were enacted by the House of Burgesses in the Colony of Virginia. These laws more clearly delineated differences in rights for indentured servants (from Europe) and slaves of color.
The latter included enslaved Africans and Native Americans sold to colonists by other Native Americans. The codes specifically legalized the trade in enslaved people and established rights of ownership as property rights. The codes also prohibited the Africans, even if free, from striking white people or owning any weapons. Many historians agree that this was a response to events, including Bacons Rebellion, where white and black servants had united.
A Pennsylvania law outlawing slavery was overturned by Britains Queen Anne.
New York City opened a public slave market on Wall Street.
New York responded to a slave revolt that year by passing legislation targeting black and Native Americans. The legislation authorized punishment by slave owners and authorized the death penalty for enslaved Africans convicted of murder, rape, arson or assault. Freeing those enslaved was made more difficult by requiring a significant payment to the government and an annuity to the one freed.
The colony of South Carolina limited the right of voting to free white Christian men.
Pennsylvania passed An Act for the Better Regulating of Negroes in this Province, providing more property rights to owners, limiting contact and freedom of Free Negroes and Mulattoes, and requiring a payment to the government if a slave were freed.
South Carolina laws required freed slaves to leave the colony within three months or return to enslavement.
Fugitive slaves establish a permanent settlement at Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, Florida.
A few white citizens
A Haitian-American legislator has strongly condemned what she describes as the “egregious and inhumane” treatment meted out to a 33-year-old Black man during a New York Police Department (NYPD) enforcement of the social distancing mandate of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic last weekend.
Louis said she is calling on New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea to hold all officers involved in “egregious and inhumane treatment” of Donni Wright accountable “and assure that our communities will be treated fairly.”
“A tale of two cities has never been more prevalent at a time when America’s biggest city and the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic should be united,” added Louis, co-chair of the Council’s Women’s Caucus and vice co-chair of the Black, Latino and Asian Caucus.
“As we cope with our new reality, black and brown communities have been outspoken and outraged by the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 and our City’s response to this pandemic.
Louis said the social distancing rules apply to all New York City residents without exemption, but noted that recent incidents of “noncompliance and inconsistent NYPD enforcement have proven otherwise.
The Minneapolis City Council approved a ban on the use of neck restraints and chokeholds as part of an agreement with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights.
The deal came after the Minnesota Human Rights Department filed a civil rights charge against Minneapolis Police for the death of George Floyd, reported Minneapolis newspaper the Star Tribune.
“Black, Indigenous, and communities of color have suffered generational pain and trauma as a result of systemic and institutional racism and long-standing problems in policing,” a draft stated.
The document states Minneapolis Police would have to update its manual to include a policy “to prohibit the use of all neck restraints or choke holds for any reason,” according to the Star Tribune.
The agreement also states that any officer, regardless of rank or years on the force, who “observes another member of the City’s Police Department use any unauthorized use of force, including any choke hold or neck restraint…has an affirmative duty to immediately report the incident while still on scene by phone or radio to their Commander or their Commander’s superiors.”
Amnesty International has documented torture, unlawful detention and sexual abuse of children escaping Boko Haram in the Northeast
At least 10,000 people, including many children, have died in military detention during the conflict
UK funding a flawed 'rehabilitation' centre - full investigation needed into deaths at the site
'This must serve as an urgent warning to the UK Government currently supporting a military abusing the very people it's meant to be protecting' - Kate Allen
Nigeria must urgently address its failure to protect and provide education to an entire generation of children in the Northeast, a region devastated by years of Boko Haram atrocities and gross violations by the military, Amnesty International warned today in a chilling new report.
The 91-page report, 'We dried our tears': Addressing the toll on children of Northeast Nigeria's conflict, examines how the military's widespread unlawful detention and torture have compounded the suffering of children from Borno and Adamawa states who faced war crimes and crimes against humanity at the hands of Boko Haram.
Between November 2019 and April 2020, Amnesty interviewed more than 230 people affected by the conflict, including 119 who were children when they suffered serious crimes at the hands of Boko Haram, the Nigerian military, or both.
Thousands, including children, held in military detention
Children who escape Boko Haram territory face a raft of violations by the Nigerian authorities, including crimes under international law.
A 14-year-old boy whom Boko Haram abducted as a young child before he fled and was placed in detention by the Nigerian military, said: \"The conditions in Giwa are horrible.
Black lawmakers at the Texas Legislature unveiled on Thursday the George Floyd Act, a sweeping police reform proposal that would ban chokeholds across the state and require law enforcement officers to intervene or render aid if another officer is using excessive force while on the job. The legislation, spearheaded by members of the Texas Legislative […]
The post Texas Legislative Black Caucus unveils the George Floyd Act appeared first on DefenderNetwork.com.
Former Guyana Defence Force (GDF) coastguards Sherwyn Hart, Deon Greenidge and Devon Gordon are currently challenging the death penalty imposed against them for the 2009 murder of Bartica gold dealer Dweive Kant Ramdass.
The article Experts to submit reports in challenge to death penalties for ex coastguards who murdered gold dealer appeared first on Stabroek News.