Report Charges Abuse and Torture at State Prison

The Human Rights Coalition started investigating conditions of prisoners in solitary confinement at the State Correctional Institution in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania in December, 2009 when an inmate denied mental health treatment committed suicide. Their report is based on written information obtained from prisoners who tell of horrendous living conditions, racial slurs, degradation and physical abuse from the guards, and an unfair misconduct process that keeps adding to their time in solitary confinement.

Investigator Amanda Johnson says prisoners protesting mistreatment in September 2010 were sprayed with excessive amounts of chemicals, then left in their cells for days without showers or medical treatment and the spray burning their skin. One prisoner says he returned his tray and utensils through the food slot after a meal, as rules require, but a guard threw the spoon back into the cell and wrote up a misconduct charge.

Johnson says the misuse of restraint chairs amounts to torture, with prisoners strapped naked into the chairs where they may be left untended for 12 to 15 hours at a time and forced to soil themselves.

Prisoners' grievances are dismissed 98% of the time, according to Johnson, who got the statistics from a "right to know" request, but a group of nine prisoners protesting an assault last week got more more positive results: the victim received medical treatment and the two guards accused of assault were removed from the unit.

Johnson wants the abuse to stop; wants the prison administration to acknowledge what's happening there; wants lawyers to help prisoners file class action lawsuits against their abuse; and she hopes more people will be concerned about human rights.

Women’s Day Celebrated on Bridge

A small group of women gathered at noon Tuesday on the Clemente Bridge to mark International Women’s Day with signs and a petition. This is the 100th annual International Women’s Day celebration and the second time it has been celebrated with the “join me on the bridge” effort sponsored by Women for Women International. Local Organizer Munah Pavlik says women gathered on bridges in cities around the world today. “Women are builders of peace, women build bridges of peace so all around the world women are gathering on bridges to highlight that women are peace builders,” says Pavlik.

The group in Pittsburgh was especially trying to draw attention to the women of Afghanistan. “By the end of the year the NATO forces and the American Forces are going to be leaving Afghanistan and we want to make sure that these women have a voice in the peace process.” Pavlik says she worries that all of the freedoms Afghani women have gained in recent years will be lost following the transition.

Pavlik adds war torn regions are especially dangerous for women. “75-percent of the civilians killed in war are women and children, civilians now account for more than 70-percent of casualties in conflicts,” says Pavlik. She says that means it is more dangerous to be a woman in a war torn country than it is to be a solider.

Pavlik says she hopes to expand to more bridges next year.

State Senator Wants to Combat Human Trafficking

Signs with a hotline to report human trafficking will be placed in many establishments if a bill by Pennsylvania State Senator Daylin Leach (D-Montgomery/Delaware) is passed. Leach is introducing two measures on human trafficking this year. Under the first, a hotline number will be placed in massage parlors, spas, and hotels, liquor stores, adult entertainment clubs, transit hubs, and hotels deemed to be a "nuisance" in the state.

Leach says that human trafficking is a huge problem in Pennsylvania. "To give you some sense of it. It's the second most pervasive crime in the world, after drug trafficking. And Pennsylvania is one of the major states for human trafficking because it's a crossroads for a lot of different areas. So we have a lot of different human trafficking."

Leach's second bill would allow victims of human trafficking to use their situation, if proven, as a defense for prostitution charges. Past victims could also have their records expunged if they prove they were victims.

Leach says the bill failed to make it through committee last year, but is hopeful that it will become law soon. He says that he has the support of many organizations representing establishments that could be effected by it.

Amnesty International Coming to Town

Amnesty International USA will meet at the Omni William Penn Hotel Friday through Sunday for the last of five annual regional conferences on human rights issues. Speakers will highlight 50 successful years of advocating for human rights and examine current and future challenges.

Executive Director Larry Cox says there are many issues in our own country, like the death penalty and our poor standing on maternal mortality—41st in the world even though we are the richest country and spend the most on health care. Also, Cox says economic hard times here have led to scapegoating and harassment of immigrants.

The world at large has gone backwards in recent years, he says, because fear always increases human rights violations. Since 9/11, he notes, countries, including the U.S., have used the fear of terrorism to justify unjustifiable acts: imprisonment for years without charges and even torture.

Cox says millions have applauded the recent release of Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma, but there are still thousands of prisoners of conscience around the world.

The conference is open to the public.

Mosher: Gender Selection Abortion Spreading

Longstanding cultural desires and China’s continued one child policy have created a world where more and more unborn girls are being aborted according to Population Research Institute President Steven Mosher. Mosher is in Pittsburgh this week to speak to the National Right to Life Committee Annual Convention being held near the airport. Mosher says he has been in classrooms in china where of the 30 or so students more than 20 are boys. He says he has also seen too many mysterious deaths among newborn girls. “ The little boys always seem to do just fine, “ says Mosher, “and so I went and asked elderly midwives what was happening and they said they were being given instructions by some parents that any girls children being born should not be allowed to survive.”
Mosher says it is not just a problem in China. A recent study in the Indian state of Punjab found that 130 boys are born for every 100 girls. The normal birth rate is 106 boys for every 100 girls. Mosher says it is not just a rural issue. He says the worst rate seen anywhere in the world is among the upper caste in Punjab where there are 300 girls in every 1,000 live births. “That means 7 of 10 unborn baby girls are being killed,” says Mosher. India has a law against sex selective abortions but it is rarely enforced. Most European countries have similar laws that are enforced with the exception of Sweden. Mosher says that has lead to “abortion tourism” to Sweden.
With the lack of women of marrying age in some Asian countries it could be assumed that the value of those remaining females would be great. Mosher says that is not the case. He says the lack of females has turned women into a commodity rather than desirable humans. He says girls are being married younger and the number being sold into sex slavery is increasing. Mosher says the lack of women has also lead to increased violence among single men, increased gang populations as men look for a surrogate family and he claims it has increased the incidence of homosexuality and rape as men look for an outlet for their sexual desires.
Mosher says sex selection abortion is now being seen stateside. Recent data shows some Asian American communities are using abortion to choose the sex of their children. Mosher says the first-born children of these populations show normal sex ratio however, “if the first child was a son, the sex ratio of the second born children was also normal. But what happened if the first child was a girl? The number of sons outnumbered daughters by 50-percent.” Illinois has had a law on the books since 1975 making sex selection through abortion illegal. Pennsylvania followed suit in 1989 and Oklahoma has just approved such a ban. Mosher says he expects Georgia to follow suit soon and then other states may follow.

President of Save Darfur Coalition Speaks at Duquesne U.

The President of the Save Darfur Coalition is speaking at Duquesne University today from 3 to 6 p.m. in the Power Center Ballroom on the topic, "How to Stop Genocide and Bring 2.7 Million Refugees Home." The event is free and open to the public.

Jerry Fowler says power and wealth in Sudan have always been concentrated around the capital Khartoum, with people in the South and Darfur in the West marginalized. Millions died during two decades of civil war in the South before a 2002 ceasefire and power sharing agreement--partly a result of President George W. Bush's diplomatic initiatives pushed by conservative and evangelical Christians in the United States. Southern Sudan is heavily Christian.

In 2003, western rebels in Darfur, which is Muslim, attacked police and military targets in an effort to win their own slice of the pie, according to Fowler. In response, he says a terrified central government promised land to Arab groups in Darfur if they would drive out the farming populations to which the rebels belonged. The result has been 300,000 or more deaths and 2.7 million people displaced.

The International Criminal Court recently charged Sudanese President Bashir with war crimes, and he responded by kicking out all the international aid groups ministering to Darfuri refugees. Fowler thinks a coordinated and sustained diplomatic effort led by the Obama administration might induce a change in behavior.

He calls Sudanese government officials "calculating pragmatists" who do not wish to be isolated from the international community but have not yet paid much of a price for the Darfur genocide.

Jerry Fowler says people must keep encouraging President Obama to keep campaign promises he made about stopping the genocide in Darfur, given all the other important issues he's facing.

World Leadership Conference in Pittsburgh

The International Women's Forum (IWF) is holding its annual World Leadership Conference in Pittsburgh. Leaders from more than 60 different countries are meeting to talk about sustainable cities and how to attain them. Attendees will pay careful attention to Masdar City in the United Arab Emirates, which is being built to be the world's first "zero-carbon, zero-waste, car-free city."

IWF President Esther Silver-Parker says the conferences are always focused on developing more women leaders, and on how women can become involved in worldly situations.

They have previously met in places like Seattle and Buenos Aires, Argentina. They plan to meet in Hong Kong in the spring.