Human Rights in the News: August 2019
/Curated by Nikki Bambauer
Welcome to the August 2019 edition of Human Rights in the News, Woven Teaching’s monthly collection of important stories from around the world. Do you have a topic you’d like to see us include? Let us know in the comments!
Two women with hair pulled back and wearing black enter a bazaar in China’s Xinjiang region. Barbed wire is visible at the top of the photo. (Credit: Greg Baker / AFP / Getty Images)
These New Facebook Ads From Chinese State Media Want You To Believe Xinjiang’s Muslim Internment Camps Are Just Great
Ryan Mac | Buzzfeed | August 20, 2019
Nationalistic Chinese newspaper The Global Times has been running ads on Facebook casting doubt on the human rights violations occurring in China’s Xinjiang region. More than one million Uighur Muslims and other ethnic minorities have been detained in Xinjiang internment centers there since 2017. Learn more >
Black and white photo of student protests at the University of California, Berkeley, 1969. Four men are featured in the front of a crowd, three with their fists up. (Credit: Stephen Shames/Polaris)
Push for Ethnic Studies in Schools Faces a Dilemma: Whose Stories to Tell
Dana Goldstein | The New York Times | August 15, 2019
A newly proposed K-12 ethnic studies curriculum is the cause of much debate in California. Vermont and Oregon are also in the process of developing ethnic studies materials for K-12 students. But which groups should be included in these curricula? Learn more >
A large crowd of Kashmiri women, most wearing headscarves, chant during an anti-India protest. Many have their arms and fists up. (Credit: Reuters)
Kashmir: The Indian government versus the facts on the ground
Elyse Samuels | The Washington Post | August 23, 2019
Kashmir is a long-disputed territory between India and Pakistan, with both countries claiming control. India’s government revoked Kashmir’s semiautonomous status earlier this month, leading to protests throughout the region. The Indian government has largely denied that these demonstrations are occurring. Learn more >
Light grey smoke rising from the Amazonian forest (Credit: Chico Batata/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)
Why the Fires in the Amazon Are So Bad
Aaron Mak | Slate | AugUst 22, 2019
Brazil has experienced more than 74,000 fires in 2019. Many suspect that farmers, supported by the country’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, have started the fires on purpose. The Amazon region is home to approximately one million Indigenous people and provides 20% of the earth’s oxygen, so the fires must be brought under control as soon as possible. Learn more >
A group of migrants, including small children, is seen behind a chain link fence. Most are sitting on the ground. (Credit: Office of Inspector General/Department of Homeland Security)
The US won’t provide flu vaccines to migrant families at border detention camps
Jessica Bursztynsky | CNBC | AUGUST 20, 2019
In the past year, three children have died from the flu at migrant detention centers in the U.S. The administration states that it will not provide vaccines for detainees, in large part because it claims that migrant children will not be held for long period of time – which is untrue, given the administration’s recent decision to hold migrant families indefinitely. Learn more >
Five people holding hands with arms raised. It is night time, so their faces cannot be seen. (Credit: Vincent Yu/AP)
Hong Kong protesters join hands in 30-mile human chain
Erin Hale and Emma Graham-Harrison | The Guardian | August 23, 2019
Demonstrators in Hong Kong have been protesting for twelve weeks. What started as a protest against a now-halted extradition bill (that would have allowed prisoners to be transferred to mainland China for trial) has grown to a large-scale pro-democracy movement. Demonstrations – some as large as two million people – have been marked by police brutality. Inspired by anti-Soviet protests in 1989, demonstrators recently created a 30-mile human chain throughout Hong Kong. Learn more >
Have a topic you’d like to see us include? Leave us a comment and let us know!