Monday, May 23, 2011

Lawsuit says Cisco is responsible for human rights violations

Another US tech giant has been sued for its complicity in human rights abuses in China. Falun Gong practitioners have filed a lawsuit against Cisco Systems, Inc. in a federal court in San Jose, seeking to hold the company accountable for its role in human rights abuses resulting from the "Great Firewall of China." The plaintiffs are represented by the Human Rights Law Foundation and the law firm Schwarcz, Rimberg, Boyd, & Rader.

More information is available here: Cisco sued, accused of helping design China's Great Firewall

Human Rights USA filed the first such lawsuit against an Information, Technology & Communications (ICT) company when it represented Shi Tao, Wang Xiaoning, and their families in their lawsuit against Yahoo, Inc.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Undocumented migrants have rights too

Human Rights USA's Program Director, Lynsay Gott, is guest blogging over at Intlawgrrls today. In her post, "Undocumented migrants have rights too," Lynsay compares the approach taken by the European Court of Justice in a recent immigrants' rights decision with that taken by the U.S. Department of Justice in its challenge to Arizona's immigration law.

Monday, May 16, 2011

'Enhanced' to the Point of Torture

As the author of this editorial notes, the real debate is between advocates of cruelty or torture that suffices to overcome resistance, regardless of its costs, and opponents of cruelty or torture, regardless of its advantages.

Which side are you on?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/enhanced-to-the-point-of-torture/2011/05/13/AFQhDz2G_story.html

Friday, May 6, 2011

Where are they now? Human Rights USA's interns make the world a better place

Human Rights USA hosts student internships every semester, training future attorneys and human rights advocates by immersing them in our cases. But what happens when they leave? Many of them go on to use human rights strategies to solve local problems.

For example, we're proud that one former Human Rights USA intern, Jessica Dickenson Goodman, has taken what she learned in her internship with us (and her experiences gained at other great organizations) and she is now working to get an anti-trafficking bill passed in Pittsburgh. Go Jessica!

Click here to read the interview on Change.org, which also has a link to an online petition supporting the Pittsburgh bill.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Post Osama - The Way Forward for the United States

JURIST Guest Columnist Benjamin G. Davis, an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Toledo College of Law and a supporter of Human Rights USA, answers a few questions about Osama Bin Laden's death and discusses what it might mean in terms of foreign affairs and domestic attitudes towards torture...http://jurist.org/forum/2011/05/benjamin-davis-post-osama.php