Category Archives: Post Human

AP Photo/Jason DeCrow North Korean human rights activist Shin Dong-hyuk delivers remarks during an event on human rights in North Korea on Sept. 23 at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York.

TOKYO Shin Dong-hyuk, the North Korean prison camp survivor who has become the symbol of human rights injustices suffered in that country, has changed key parts of the story of his ordeal.

Although the most horrific details, such as being lowered by a hook over a fire, still stand, Shin has admitted that many of the places and timings in his telling of his story were wrong, according to Blaine Harden, the author of Escape from Camp 14, the best-selling book about Shins life.

From a human rights perspective, he was still brutally tortured, but he moved things around, said Harden, a former Washington Post journalist who first wrote Shins story for The Post in 2008.

Shin, 32, has been one of the most prominent defectors from North Korea, trying to raise awareness about human rights abuses there. He also testified in front of the U.N. Commission of Inquiry, whose report has led to an international campaign to hold the totalitarian states leaders to account for decades of human rights violations.

North Korea, alarmed by this campaign and the prospect of Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un being indicted, has been trying to undermine Shins testimony and will doubtless seize on these revisions to try to portray all accounts of human rights abuses as fabrications.

In Escape from Camp 14 and in his testimony to the U.N. commission, Shin has told this story: That he was born in Camp 14, a sprawling high-security political prison in the mountains of north of Pyongyang, where he was brutally tortured and lived until his escape in 2005. He has consistently said that he escaped with a fellow inmate, climbing over his body when the man was electrocuted on the fence that surrounded the camp, and then made his way into China.

Shin has now admitted to Harden that when he was about 6, he, his mother and his brother were transferred to another prison camp, Camp 18, across the Taedong River from Camp 14.

It was there, after learning of his mother and brothers plans to escape, he betrayed them to the authorities, Shin told Harden. It was also in this camp, he said, that he witnessed their execution.

In the book, Shin recounted all these events as happening in Camp 14.

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North Korean defector admits inaccuracies in his story

An obese woman has filed a complaint with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal, claiming she was discriminated against because of her weight, and denied a reasonable level of care.

The complainant, a university professor, says a doctor told her that, because of her obesity, there was no point wasting rehabilitation resources on her, and another doctor told her she was just wasting a rehab bed.

In a decision issued Friday, tribunal member Catherine McCreary denied the application to dismiss the complaint, noting certain conclusions could only be reached after a hearing.

The individual doctors involved, the health authority and the complainant are all subject to a publication ban and cannot be identified.

The professor says she suffers from a disability, namely obesity, and the tribunal notes that obesity is a disability which is a protected characteristic in the B.C. Human Rights Code.

The woman said she received differential and discriminatory treatment in her access to rehab, following two hip surgeries, followed by an infection, and the subsequent removal of her prosthetic hip.

The complainant, who was in excess of 440 lbs., said a doctor told her she would be transferred out of rehab and into a seniors home, and that the health authority did not have the resources to deal with someone her size.

The health authority disputes the womans assertion that she was denied a reasonable level of rehab. They noted that both of the complainants hospital stays markedly exceeded the typical length of stay by several weeks, and her 126 days in the rehab unit was the longest length of stay of any orthopaedic patient in the Unit over a six-year period.

The health authority also said the complainant refused to participate in nutrition counselling.

The tribunal member urged the parties to use mediation to settle the matter.

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Obese woman files complaint with B.C. Human Rights Tribunal over her post-surgery care

Crysis 3 mission 1 walkthrough (post human warrior)(untouched)
Twenty-four years after the events of Crysis 2, Psycho finds Lawrence "Prophet" Barnes aboard the Liberty Dome in New York City. Joining with Psycho and his team of elite Nanosuit soldiers,...

By: Quetro Play

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Crysis 3 mission 1 walkthrough (post human warrior)(untouched) - Video

By Emilie M. Hafner-Burton, Edward Mansfield and Jon Pevehouse January 16 at 9:33 AM

Joshua Tucker: One of our regular features here at The Monkey Cage is summaries from political scientists of recently published research. We have arranged for articles that are featured in this series to be ungated and made freely available to the public for a period of time following the post on The Monkey Cage. The current postis frompolitical scientistsEmilie Hafner-Burton(University of California, San Diego), Edward Mansfield(University of Pennsylvania) and Jon Pevehouse(University of Wisconsin), based on their article Human Rights Institutions, Sovereignty Costs and Democratization that recently appeared in theBritish Journal of Political Science and is available for free download here.

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In 1994, the U.S. government made a legally binding commitment to theinternational conventionagainst torture, reaffirming its constitutional commitment to prohibiting cruel and unusual punishments. It joined a large number of other countries, including Algeria, China, Ecuador and Russia, who made similar commitments.

Recently, the U.S. Senate issued a report on the CIAs secret interrogations of terrorism suspects, cataloging dozens of cases of near drowning and the use of painful procedures, mistaken identities and conspiracy to deceive the White House. Consideringtheinformation released in the report, the United States appears not to have lived up to its legal commitment. In addition, the report drives home an additionalpoint thatthese legally prohibited acts of torture didnt work to serve the countrys national security interests or values. Others dispute this claim.

The allegations in this report raise a number of big questions. Among them is why do governments participate in human rights institutions at all if they can just break the rules at their convenience? The number of countries participating has risen dramatically in recent years, including many governments with serious human rights problems. And there are a growing number of international laws and organizations that include the promotion, advancement, or enforcement of human rights among their aims. Why would a government voluntarily elect to accept the constraints that these institutions supposedly impose on their sovereignty when it seemingly obtains no material gains from membership? Are these institutions just cheap talk, or can they ever have real teeth to constrain acts like those allegedly committed by the CIA?

Our recent research provides some answers. The United States is somewhat unusual standing alongside Somalia, for example, as one of the few countries in the world that has not committed to the legal regime protecting the rights of children. But there is a more general explanation, which is that different types of governments participate in these institutions for very different often contradictory reasons. Some seek to create and bolster norms of human dignity. Some are obviously faking it, making promises they never intend to keep and joining institutions they seek to spoil. Yet some actually seek the pressure of an outside commitment to keep the government in line.

On the surface, it seems a contradiction that the worlds human rights institutions could in chorus service these very different goals. But they can, partly because the costs of participation depend on the way an institution is designed. Some institutions are much stronger than others institutions that promote rule specificity, issue linkage, membership restrictions, formal reporting, monitoring and enforcement procedures place some constraints on a states sovereignty. Others are more symbolic than constraining.

This helps explain the reality that governments shop for the human rights institutions that most meet their needs, whether symbolism, expression or constraint. And its a very particular type of state those undergoing the process of democratization t hat is most keen to seek the institutions that actually extract costs. Bearing these costs helps signal that their commitment to human rights and the consolidation of democracy is not cheap talk. Sure, stable democracies may also enter these institutions in response to political pressures and in support of broader foreign policy goals, but they have less need to actually tie their hands. Meanwhile, the worlds autocrats are actively shopping for cheap talk, generally avoiding the human rights institutions that will make them pay the most, and they and they have a lot of options.

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Monkey Cage: Shopping for international human rights conventions

(c) 2015, The Washington Post.

At the rate things are going, the Earth in the coming decades could cease to be a "safe operating space" for human beings. That is the conclusion of a new paper published Thursday in the journal Science by 18 researchers trying to gauge the breaking points in the natural world.

The paper contends that we have already crossed four "planetary boundaries." They include the extinction rate; deforestation; the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; and the flow of nitrogen and phosphorous (used on land as fertilizer) into the ocean.

"What the science has shown is that human activities - economic growth, technology, consumption - are destabilizing the global environment," said Will Steffen, who holds joint appointments at the Australian National University and the Stockholm Resilience Center, and is the lead author of the paper.

These are not future problems, but rather urgent matters, according to Steffen, who said that the economic boom since 1950 and the globalized economy have accelerated the transgression of the boundaries. No one knows exactly when push will come to shove, but he said the possible destabilization of the "Earth System" as a whole could occur in a time frame of "decades out to a century."

The researchers focused on nine separate planetary boundaries first identified by scientists in a 2009 paper. These boundaries set theoretical limits on changes to the environment, and include ozone depletion, freshwater use, ocean acidification, atmospheric aerosol pollution and the introduction of exotic chemicals and modified organisms.

Beyond each planetary boundary is a "zone of uncertainty." This zone is meant to acknowledge the inherent uncertainties in the calculations, and to offer decision-makers a bit of a buffer, so that they can potentially take action before it's too late to make a difference. Beyond that zone of uncertainty is the unknown planetary conditions unfamiliar to us.

"The boundary is not like the edge of the cliff," said Ray Pierrehumbert, an expert on Earth systems at the University of Chicago. "They're a little bit more like danger warnings, like high temperature gauges on your car."

Pierrehumbert, who was not involved in the paper published in Science, added that a planetary boundary "is like an avalanche warning tape on a ski slope."

The scientists say there is no certainty that catastrophe will follow the transgression of these boundaries. Rather, the scientists cite the precautionary principle: We know that human civilization has risen and flourished in the past 10,000 years an epoch known as the Holocene under relatively stable environmental conditions.

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Scientists: Human activity has pushed Earth beyond four of nine 'planetary boundaries'

Barry Donahue photo

Elenita Muniz and supporters at Barnstable Superior Courthouse on Wednesday morning.

By Rachael Devaney

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Elenita Muniz still has her job for now.

On Wednesday morning, the Barnstable County Commissioners discussed whether Muniz, the countys human rights coordinator, should keep her post after she issued some inflammatory comments on race at a Dec. 9 panel for International Human Rights Day at Cape Cod Community College. At that panel, she said that "all white people are racist."

During the commissioners regular meeting, held at the Barnstable Superior Courthouse, County Commissioners Sheila Lyons, Mary Pat Flynn and Bill Doherty decided to hold off on taking any action against Muniz. Doherty said he wants the matter discussed further.

Muniz was given 10 minutes at Wednesdays meeting to address the Board of County Commissioners regarding her position and her remarks. She said that the racially charged comments were "a poor choice of words."

"I am a Puerto Rican, a liberal and an activist. I have taken and lead anti-racism workshops, and I have spent time studying concepts surrounding white privilege, and because of that I work hard to be careful about my language and behavior around race," Muniz said. "What I should have said is that all white people have biases about race. However careful we are in our speech, however much we try to keep our thoughts neutral around race, we carry prejudices that manifest themselves when we least expect it."

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Muniz retains county post after race tumult

Research supports proposal that Earth is now in a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, with a start date for this epoch of around 1950.

IMAGE:This image shows the trajectory of the Anthropocene. view more

Credit: SRC/IGBP/F Pharand Deschenes

Human activity, predominantly the global economic system, is now the prime driver of change in the Earth System (the sum of our planet's interacting physical, chemical, biological and human processes), according to a set of 24 global indicators, or "planetary dashboard", published in the journal Anthropocene Review (19 January 2015).

The research charts the "Great Acceleration" in human activity from the start of the industrial revolution in 1750 to 2010, and the subsequent changes in the Earth System - greenhouse gas levels, ocean acidification, deforestation and biodiversity deterioration.

"It is difficult to overestimate the scale and speed of change. In a single lifetime humanity has become a planetary-scale geological force," says lead author Professor Will Steffen, who led the joint project between the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and the Stockholm Resilience Centre.

Twelve indicators depict human activity, for example, economic growth (GDP), population, foreign direct investment, energy consumption, telecommunications, transportation and water use. Twelve indicators show changes in major environmental components of the Earth System, for example, the carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle and biodiversity. This new "planetary dashboard" highlights how the trajectories of Earth and human development are now tightly bound. The findings will be presented at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, 21-24 January.

"When we first aggregated these datasets, we expected to see major changes but what surprised us was the timing. Almost all graphs show the same pattern. The most dramatic shifts have occurred since 1950. We can say that around 1950 was the start of the Great Acceleration," said Professor Steffen, a researcher at the Australian National University and the Stockholm Resilience Centre.

"After 1950 you can see that major Earth System changes became directly linked to changes largely related to the global economic system. This is a new phenomenon and indicates that humanity has a new responsibility at a global level for the planet," he added.

Co-author IGBP Deputy Director, Dr Wendy Broadgate said, "The Great Acceleration indicators allow us to distinguish the signal from the noise. Earth is in a quantifiably different state than before. Several significant Earth System processes are now driven by human consumption and production."

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New planetary dashboard shows 'Great Acceleration' in human activity since 1950

In the movie Her, Joaquin Phoenixs character falls in love with his computers operating system, which through the magic of machine learning and Hollywood comes to know and understand him better than anyone else. Its a futuristic critique of human reliance on technology. But according to one new study, its a future that may not be all that far away.

This week, researchers from the University of Cambridge and Stanford University released a study indicating that Facebook may be better at judging peoples personalities than their closest friends, their spouses, and in some cases, even themselves. The study compared peoples Facebook Likes to their own answers in a personality questionnaire, as well as the answers provided by their friends and family, and found that Facebook outperformed any human, no matter their relation to the subjects.

Thats a substantial finding, the researchers say, particularly given the fact that human beings are evolutionarily designed to have good personality judgement. Its what keeps us out of danger and influences our relationships. But the realization that, perhaps, computers are better equipped to make these judgements than humans are could help cut through the natural bias that pervades human interactions. Never mind what this says about how much of power Facebook wields.

Were walking personality prediction machines, says Michal Kosinski, a computer science professor at Stanford, but computers beat us at our own game.

The researchers began with a 100-item personality questionnaire that went viral after David Stillwell, a psychometrics professor at Cambridge, posted it on Facebook back in 2007. Respondents answered questions that were meant to root out five key personality traits: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Based on that survey, the researchers scored each respondent in all five traits.

Then, the researchers created an algorithm and fed it with every respondents personality scores, as well as their Likes, to which subjects voluntarily gave researchers access. The researchers only included Likes that respondents shared with at least 20 other respondents. That enabled the model to connect certain Likes to certain personality traits. If, for instance, several people who liked Snooki on Facebook also scored high in the extroverted category, the system would learn that Snooki lovers are more outgoing. The more Likes the system saw, the better its judgment became.

In the end, the researchers found that with information on just ten Facebook Likes, the algorithm was more accurate than the average persons colleague. With 150 Likes, it could outsmart peoples families, and with 300 Likes, it could best a persons spouse.

Whats more, at times, the Facebook model could beat the subjects own answers. As part of the survey, the researchers also asked respondents to answer concrete questions such as how many drinks they have a week or what type of career path theyve chosen. Then, they tried to see if they could predict how many drinks someone was likely to have in a week based on their answers to the personality test.

Once again, they found that Facebook Likes were a better indicator of peoples substance use than even their own questionnaires were. When people take the questionnaire, they present themselves in a slightly more positive way than they really are, Kosinski says. This tendency to self-enhance makes computers slightly more objective.

While the researchers admit the results were surprising, they say theres good reason for it. For starters, computers dont forget. While our judgment of people may change based on our most recent or most dramatic interactions with them, computers give a persons entire history equal weight. Computers also dont have experiences or opinions of their own. Theyre not limited by their own cultural references, and they dont find certain personality traits, likes, or interests good or bad. Computers dont understand that certain personalities are more socially desirable, Kosinski says. Computers dont like any of us.

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How Facebook Knows You Better Than Your Friends Do

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) joins millions of Asians and others across the globe to mourn the sad demise of Justice V R Krishna Iyer.

Photograph: Wikipedia

Aged 100, Justice Krishna Iyer passed away on 5 December 2014 in a hospital in Kerala, India. He was a member of AHRCs advisory group and was an active participant in AHRCs work in Asia, particularly concerning Sri Lanka, India, and China.

Popularly known as the Chief Justice of the peoples court of India, Justice Krishna Iyer was one of the finest jurists of our times. He retired from the Supreme Court of India after having served the country during some of its most difficult times. Justice Krishna Iyer served at the Supreme Court from 1973 to 1980; this coincided with some of Indias darkest days, i.e. the emergency under the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi.

While India and jurists across the globe have benefited from Justice Krishna Iyers legal acumen, perhaps it is the people of the Indian state of Kerala who have most benefited from his legal luminance. Justice Krishna Iyer played a leading role in the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963, a law that permanently redefined Keralas social and political landscape, ending feudalism in the state.

As a jurist, Justice Krishna Iyer played an important role in developing Indias constitutional jurisprudence, particularly in terms of defining the power of the Presidents office. This prevented India from adopting executive presidency at a time when most countries in Asia shifted from a parliamentary form of governance to presidential rule, and the executive powers of presidents led to dictatorships.

As a judge, Justice Krishna Iyer was a peoples judge. He had the wisdom and foresight to ensure that even prisoners were allowed to exercise their fundamental rights, given that it is the states responsibility to protect these rights. Justice Krishna Iyer liberally interpreted the Constitution, expanding the horizon of the fundamental rights, particularly the right to life and freedom of movement, thereby redefining the Indian states responsibility to protect the rights of all citizens.

As a judge, Justice Krishna Iyer played a vital role in saving the Indian Judiciary from political and executive interference; this interference had been so firmly established that many judges who served at the Supreme Court, despite their said integrity, could not diminish. This has made the Indian Judiciary exceptional in Asia, along with three other jurisdictions: Hong Kong, South Korea, and Japan.

Justice Krishna Iyer will be missed in the perilous times that lie ahead for India and the region.

The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation that monitors human rights in Asia, documents violations and advocates for justice and institutional reform to ensure the protection and promotion of these rights. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.

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AHRC mourns the death of the peoples judge

Published January 13, 2015

George Clooney, left, and Amal Clooney arrive at the 72nd annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015, in Beverly Hills, Calif.(AP)

Kathy Griffin slammed Amal Clooney's Golden Globes gown choice in the first post-Joan Rivers episode of "Fashion Police."

The human rights lawyer and newlywed chose a full-length black Dior gown complete with long, white gloves.

"Yeah, she's annoying," "Fashion Police" newcomer Griffin said. " You heard me! Everybody run in fear! I thought it was weird she had those gloves that remind me of, like, a porn scene, where the guy goes home and theres the naughty dishwasher and she only has the gloves."

Griffin didn't stop there.

"Like, she used those bovine insemination gloves to rake through her hair instead of a brush," she added before warning "nobody's safe, nobody gets a pass," even "the great George Clooney's" wife.

"Fashion Police" co-host Kelly Osbourne agreed with Griffin and said the gloves belonged "on a vet helping a calf be born."

Before Griffin began slamming Hollywood's worst dressed, she took the time to thank her "Fashion Police" predecessor.

"Before I start making more enemies and burning new bridges, I want to thank my good friend," she said of Rivers. "Joan, I know you are watching from heaven, but I am not afraid to bring the hammer down on anyone."

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Griffin slams Amal Clooney