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A blog about human rights in their many forms.

The New Conquistadors: Mining Policy as Foreign Policy

Canadian mining interests threaten the Panamanian environment as well as the livelihoods of subsistence farmers and indigenous villages.
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A Ngobe activist protests against a Canadian mining company in Nueva Lucha, Panama, where indigenous people see the mining industry as a threat to their way of life. (Pulitzer Center/Courtesy)

This is part one of a two-part series. Check out Part Two. 

The “Tower of the Americas,” a gleaming behemoth of a skyscraper occupying an entire block of downtown Panama City, is home to the Panamanian satellites of hundreds of international companies.

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Will the Supremes rule on DOMA and Prop 8?

There are a number of possible outcomes, but if the Supreme Court decides to rule on marriage equality, the nation could see a profound shift in policy.
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Only four of the nine justices need to agree to take on a case. They could decide to hear cases related to the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8 this week. (TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images)

The Supreme Court has its hands full, as it ponders whether to take up LGBT rights cases from around the country, including California's on-again, off-again Proposition 8. 

On Friday, the justices will enter conference, where they meet in private to look at questions from lower courts and decide if they want to rule on them. 

Four of nine justices must agree to take a specific case, and they can decide to take one, some, or all of them. (This is called granting certiorari.)

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A humanitarian crisis after Guatemala's earthquake

Remote communities have been most affected by the earthquake that hit earlier this month, leaving many homeless and without warm food or heat.
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Red Cross worker Yuly Hoffens takes down the information of indigenous Guatemalans affected by the earthquake. Lucia Arazil Lopez (left) is sleeping in the home of a neighbor because she's afraid her damaged home will collapse during ongoing aftershocks. (Stephanie Rice/GlobalPost)

CAJOLA, Guatemala – Antonio Huinil Lopez didn’t have the easiest life before a massive earthquake destroyed his family’s home earlier this month.

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US retailers again eye safety standards after deadly Bangladesh fire

Major clothing manufacturers like Walmart and Gap are seeing pressure from labor rights groups to implement better fire safety standards after another fire in a Bangladeshi factory.
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The skeletal remains of rows of sewing machine tables, covered in ash after a fire at the Tazreen Fashions factory outside Dhaka, Bangladesh. (Palash Khan/LEADFOTO.COM/Courtesy)

On this national day of mourning in Bangladesh, the country is coming to terms with a devastating factory fire that killed 112 people at the Tazreen Fashions factory outside Dhaka last weekend. 

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Uganda anti-gay bill passes vote, moves forward

The death penalty has reportedly been removed from the bill, but it would still be the harshest anti-LGBT law in the world.
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Uganda's anti-gay bill has passed a committee vote and will move to Parliament without the death penalty clause. However, its passage would still spell doom for the LGBT community and those infected with HIV/AIDS in Uganda. (PEDRO ARMESTRE/AFP/Getty Images)

The Ugandan bill known as the "Kill the Gays" bill since it was originally put forward in 2009 has moved toward final passage. It easily made its way through a committee vote on Friday Nov. 23, and will go to Parliament next to be debated on the floor. 

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Record number of journalists killed worldwide in 2012

Across the globe, press freedom advocates are staggered by the number of reporters killed this year, and discussing what can be done to stem the tide.
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Somali people carry the body of journalist Abdisatar Dahir who was killed in a double suicide attack in a restaurant in Mogadishu. According to the International Press Institute, 16 journalists have been killed this year in Somalia, 119 total worldwide, the highest number since the 1990s. (Mohamed Abdiwahab/AFP/Getty Images)

Journalists are at risk on a global scale, and while reporters used to be afforded a bit of a safety net when covering violence and war, those days are over. No one is safe, and governments respond with impunity, making it easier to kill reporters without suffering consequences. 

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Mosque for gays, women to open in Paris

The organization Homosexuals Muslims in France announced it will open a mosque that will allow men and women to pray together and perform same-sex marriage ceremonies.
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France's first married gay man and a crusader for LGBT Muslims announced that his NGO will open a mosque where men and women can pray together and same-sex couples can be married in Muslim ceremonies. (MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP/Getty Images)

A mosque that will specifically cater to gay and female Muslims is set to open in Paris at the end of November, announced the association of Homosexual Muslims in France (HM2F) this week. 

Founder Ludovic Lütfi Zahed, who is both gay and Muslim, said the progressive space will allow women and men to pray together and will soon perform same-sex marriage ceremonies.

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India's anti-corruption movement pulls journalists into the fray

The Indian media faces legal retribution for publishing the accusations of anti-corruption crusader Arvind Kejriwal.
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Anti-corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal arrives to speak to supporters in October, 2012. Reporting on his allegations has landed some journalists and media companies in hot water with the accused politicians. (SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP/Getty Images)

The most powerful man in Indian politics has the press in the palm of his hand.

Journalists tend to soak up everything Arvind Kejriwal says at his bombastic press conferences, which have become a spectacle where the former tax examiner regularly accuses members of the political elite of corruption and produces the evidence to prove it. 

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Drones: 'Killer robots' wage Israel-Gaza violence

Human Rights Watch has released a new report questioning the morality of drones against the backdrop of another Israel-Palestine war.
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Israeli soldiers prepare an artillery emplacement overlooking Gaza on November 19, 2012 on Israel's border with the Gaza Strip. The death toll has risen to at least 85 killed in the air strikes, according to hospital officials, on day six since the launch of operation 'Pillar of Defense.' (Christopher Furlong/AFP/Getty Images)

The buzz of Israeli drones over Gaza City is an unmistakable part of the din of war between Israel and Gaza now heading into its seventh day. The whole of Gaza knows the drones are there as Israel's eyes in the sky — and sometimes the source of deadly missiles raining down on the densely populated area.

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Op-Ed: Myanmar is a test of US engagement in Asia

Human rights groups say that President Obama's trip to Myanmar was premature, but it was the right decision.
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US President Barack Obama speaks as Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi listens in Yangon on November 19, 2012. Huge crowds greeted Barack Obama in Myanmar on the first visit by a serving US president to the former pariah state to encourage a string of startling political reforms. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)

NEW YORK — President Barack Obama’s trip to Myanmar this week is the first by a sitting US president. Human rights groups say the trip was premature and that it is too early in Myanmar’s reform process to grant President Thein Sein the benefits of a US presidential visit.

For sure, more work is needed to consolidate peace and progress in Myanmar. But Obama made the right decision.

A visit from the US president encourages Sein to continue down the path of reform, while validating the Burmese people’s demands for freedom. The visit also underscores a central feature of the Obama administration’s foreign policy: the idea that engagement is critical to encouraging a more open and democratic system.  

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