Human Rights – Rainer Ebert

We haven’t left the cave yet

Ali Khamenei is dead. For decades, he held ultimate political and religious authority over a theocratic regime that continues to oppress Iranians at home and sponsor terrorism abroad. For those who survived torture and other forms of ill-treatment at the hands of this regime, those who were forced to flee their homeland to escape persecution, and those who lost friends and family, including the thousands of protesters killed by Iranian security forces in January, this is a moment of relief. Khamenei will not be hurting anyone anymore. For some, joy joins relief in an intricate tangle of emotions that only those who have lived under the shadow of the Grand Ayatollah can truly comprehend.

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Human Rights, Society, Travel

Authoritarianism by exhaustion: Trump’s new travel ban

Muslim Ban protest at George Bush Intercontinental Airport on January 28, 2017

Just a week after Donald Trump first took office as President, he signed Executive Order 13769 – his first travel ban. It halted refugee admissions and suspended entry into the U.S. for citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. All of these countries have a Muslim majority. Because of that, and also because Trump had previously said that he intends to ban Muslims from the U.S., critics referred to the order as a “Muslim ban.” The backlash was immediate and broad, coming from Republicans and Democrats alike, as well as U.S. diplomats, business leaders, universities, faith groups, and international organizations such as the United Nations and Amnesty International. Protests erupted in airports and cities across the U.S. A friend and I – both of us immigrants to the U.S. ourselves – spontaneously drove to the international airport in Houston to express our outrage, along with hundreds of other protesters. I remember I felt hopeful. Surely, even people who didn’t come out to the airport would recoil once they learned what the order was actually doing to real human beings – for example, to the 78-year-old Iranian grandmother, certainly not a threat to national security, who came to the U.S. with a valid visa to visit her children, as she did every year. She was detained for 27 hours at LAX, denied access to lawyers, and fell ill before finally being allowed to enter the country.

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Human Rights, Travel

Travel is a right, not a privilege, and the Global South is leading the way

For some, it’s as routine as paying at the checkout counter. For others, it’s as nerve-wracking as a prostate exam, and as undignified as being reprimanded in front of class. Which experience you have depends largely on one thing: where you were born.

We’re talking about international travel.

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Human Rights, Tanzania

Suluhu’s authoritarian grip tightens in Tanzania

When Samia Suluhu became President in 2021, there was real hope that Tanzania would move away from the oppressive authoritarianism of her predecessor, John Magufuli, and toward a more democratic style of governance. Three years later, little hope is left.

In just the last ten days, Tanzania’s democracy has suffered two serious blows. The first occurred in Dar es Salaam on September 23, when police were deployed in large numbers to prevent peaceful protests against killings and abductions of government critics, and opposition leaders, as well as journalists covering the protests, were arrested. The second blow came just hours ago from the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA), which suspended the online media services licenses previously issued to the country’s leading newspapers, The Citizen and Mwananchi. The reason for the suspension is an animated video published on October 1. It shows Suluhu watching citizens lament the disappearances of family members on TV.

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Bangladesh, Human Rights

Accountability or oppression with a vengeance?

Last week’s political violence was by far the worst since I first visited and fell in love with this country fifteen years ago. Some media outlets report 150 lives lost, others 170. Among those who lost their lives are children and young adults, noninvolved bystanders, and security personnel. Once the dust settles and a careful tabulation is done, the actual number of deaths could well be multiples of the numbers circulating at the moment. In addition, thousands were injured, many of whom have a long road of recovery ahead, and some of whom will never fully recover.

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Human Rights, LGBT rights, Society, Tanzania

Mtu na Jinsia

Je, unajua tofauti kati ya utambulisho wa kijinsia, muonekano wa kijinsia, jinsia ki-anatomia, na mwelekeo wa kijinsi? Baadhi ya marafiki na mimi tumeunda kitini cha ukurasa mmoja, kulingana na Genderbread Person ya Sam Killermann, ambayo inafafanua dhana hizi kwa njia inayoweza kufikiwa na ya kuvutia. Ni zana nzuri ya kufundishia na njia nzuri ya kuanzisha mazungumzo muhimu, iwe shuleni, chuo kikuu, matukio ya kijumuiya, au warsha za utetezi. Ni bure kwa mtu yeyote kupakua na kutumia kwa madhumuni ya elimu, na kukuza uvumilivu, kuelewa, na kuthamini tofauti za binadamu.

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Human Rights, Society

Kupiga watoto sio sawa

Isipokuwa kama unajilinda mwenyewe au unamlinda mtu mwingine, kumpiga mtu ni shambulio, na shambulio ni kinyume cha sheria. Hakuna mjadala juu yake, na hakuna sababu nzuri sana kwa nini iwe hivyo. Watu wana haki ya kuheshimiwa. Kumpiga mtu sio tu husababisha maumivu ya mwili – ni udhalilishaji. Ndiyo maana ni nchi chache tu ambazo bado zinatumia mateso ya kimwili kama adhabu. Tunaposoma makala za habari kuhusu nchi zinazowapiga watu viboko kwa uharibifu wa kitu fulani au kuiba, wengi wetu hukwazika na kushangaa: “Ni unyama ulioje!” Tumechoka na kuchoshwa na vurugu. Ubinadamu umepitia mambo mabaya mengi sana, na imekuwa nadra sana kwa binadamu kufanya mambo mema. Vurugu inapaswa kuwa suluhu ya mwisho, na itumike tu inapobidi.

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Human Rights, Society

Hitting kids is never OK

Unless you are defending yourself or someone else, hitting a stranger is assault, and assault is illegal. There is no question about it, and there are very good reasons why that is so. People have the right to be treated with respect. Hitting someone not only causes physical pain – it is degrading. That’s also why only a few countries still use the infliction of physical pain as punishment. When reading news articles about countries caning people for vandalism or stealing, most of us react with indignation: “How barbaric and backward!” We are sick and tired of violence. Humanity has seen too much of it, and hardly ever has it done any good. Violence should be the last resort, only to be used when absolutely necessary.

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Animal Ethics, Human Rights, Philosophy

New article, defending a novel account of full and equal moral status

My new article in the Zeitschrift für Ethik und Moralphilosophie (Journal for Ethics and Moral Philosophy) is perhaps the most important article I have written to date. It builds on arguments I made in previous publications – including in this article and this article – and presents a novel account of full and equal moral status, according to which it is no less seriously wrong to kill a non-human conscious animal than it is to kill you or me.

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Human Rights, Society, Tanzania

Ni zaidi ya suala la familia!

Ni janga kubwa na lisilo na kifani. Linaleta uchungu na mateso kwa wanawake na familia zao. Linaharibu jamii katika kila nchi na tamaduni. Lakini cha kushangaza, ni mara chache linazungumziwa, na kwa hakika halishughulikiwi kwa uharaka, tofauti kabisa na janga lingine lolote, ambalo limewahi kuwepo angalau kwa miaka miwili iliyopita. Tanzania ni mfano wa nchi ambayo janga hili limejikita sana lakini linafichwa. Katika nchi kama hii yenye mandhari nzuri, visiwa vya kupendeza, na wanyama wa porini wa kuvutia, kufichwa kwa janga hili kunaleta kizungumkuti.

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Human Rights, Society, Tanzania

Not a “family issue”

It is a pandemic of devastating proportions. It brings pain and suffering to women and their families. It ravages communities in every country and culture. And yet, we rarely talk about it, and we surely do not address it with the urgency it demands – in stark contrast to the other pandemic, which has been a constant presence in our collective consciousness for the last two years. Tanzania is a case in point. In the land of picturesque landscapes, tropical islands, and spectacular wildlife, this hidden pandemic casts a particularly dark shadow.

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Human Rights

Abstaining on Ukraine at the UN is Indefensible

Senior Russian officials continued denying their intent to invade Ukraine until the moment the invasion began. The Russians misled and miscalculated, and Europe is now in the midst of its largest military conflict and refugee crisis since World War II.

Neither NATO, a defensive alliance whose purpose is to protect its member states, nor Ukraine posed an existential threat to Russia prior to the invasion. As the International Court of Justice recently noted, there is also no credible evidence to support Russian claims that Ukraine was committing genocide against Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine. The Russian claim that their “Special Military Operation” is “de-nazifying” Ukraine is likewise laughable. The country has a democratically elected Jewish president, after all.

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Animal Ethics, Human Rights, Philosophy, Society

Ethics of Change: Winners’ Essays

On December 7 and 8, 2021, the Ethics of Change International Student Conference was held at the Centre de Recherche en Éthique. On this occasion, nine young researchers, selected after a competition in which over 200 proposals were received, presented their work.

The two best of these excellent presentations have been summarized and are available on the website of the CRÉ, and here:

“On the Legality and Democratic Legitimacy of Animal Rights Activism and Undercover Footage,” by Katharina Braun, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
“Questioning the Culture of Fatphobia: A Commentary on the Systemic Marginalisation of Fat Bodies,” by Nanda Harish, Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi, India

Congratulations to these excellent researchers!

And enjoy reading their papers.

Animal Ethics, Human Rights, LGBT rights, Philosophy, Society

Ethics of Change International Student Conference

The way we live, and the norms, beliefs, and attitudes that shape our behavior are constantly changing. Much of that change is driven by people who refuse to accept the status quo and rise to ask critical questions about what is right and wrong in how governments, communities, and individuals treat others, including members of sexual, racial, religious, and other minorities, dissidents, people with disabilities, women, nonhuman animals, and the natural environment.

The Centre de Recherche en Éthique (CRÉ) in Montréal, Canada, will unite students from across the globe to come together to explore the ethical considerations around social and political activism, and strategies to achieve local and global change. The conference aims to allow students to exchange ideas across borders and make sustainable connections with each other as well as with the CRÉ.

The conference will be conducted online via Zoom on Tuesday and Wednesday, 7 and 8 December 2021.

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Human Rights, LGBT rights, Society, Tanzania

Mahojiano: WanaLGBT Tanzania

🇺🇸 Please click here to find an English version of this interview.

Wasagaji, mashoga, wapenda jinsia mbili na wabadilisha jinsia (LGBT) wanakumbwa na ubaguzi na vurugu ambazo zimesababisha madhara makubwa pamoja na ubinywaji wa haki zao za msingi. Niliwahoji wanaharakati watatu wa LGBT wa Tanzania ambao ni wanachama wa jamii hii ili kujua zaidi kuihusu. Lulu ni msagaji mwenye zaidi ya miaka ishirini, Grace ni mwanamke aliyebadilisha jinsia mwenye umri wa kati ya miaka ishirini na Baraka ni shoga mwenye umri wa miaka thelathini na nusu. Haya sio majina yao halisi, maana wanaishi Tanzania na hawahisi salama kujitokeza hadharani. Wanayopitia ni ya kuhuzunisha kwakweli. Nawashukuru kwa kuwa na ujasiri wa kuhojiwa. Natumaini kusoma kuhusu gharama ya maovu ya chuki dhidi ya wapendao jinsia moja na wabadilisha jinsia itamsaidia msomaji kuelewa umuhimu wa kupigania haki za wanaLGBT nchini Tanzania.

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Human Rights, LGBT rights, Society, Tanzania

Interview: The LGBT community in Tanzania

🇹🇿 Tafadhali bonyeza hapa kupata toleo la mahojiano haya kwa Kiswahili.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Tanzania experience substantial prejudice, discrimination, and violence, which has a significantly negative impact on their well-being, and are being denied their most basic human rights. I talked to three Tanzanian LGBT activists who are themselves members of Tanzania’s LGBT community to learn more about the lives of LGBT people in Tanzania. Lulu is a lesbian woman in her late twenties, Grace is a trans woman in her mid-twenties, and Baraka is a gay man in his mid-thirties. These are not their real names, as they live in Tanzania and do not feel safe coming out to the general public. Their experiences, however, are painfully real. I am grateful to them for having the courage to speak up, and I hope reading about the human cost of the evils of homophobia and transphobia will help the reader better understand the urgency of LGBT rights advocacy in Tanzania.

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Human Rights, Society

A license to rape

Sudha was a healthy 16-year-old student in South India. Now she is dead. It was not COVID-19 that killed her – not directly anyway. She was found hanging in the village of Ranganathapura at the end of last month, and died shortly afterwards at a nearby hospital. Sudha committed suicide, after being forced to marry a relative. Allegedly, police initially attempted to hush up the case, but eventually the parents of both the bride and the groom were arrested. The groom is still at large. The government body tasked with the prevention of child marriage told local press that the marriage remained unnoticed by the authorities for longer than usual because the responsible officer was not working, due to India’s coronavirus lockdown. If the marriage had come to the attention of the authorities earlier, maybe Sudha would still be alive.

Each year, 12 million female children across the world are married. That is nearly one girl every three seconds. Countries in West and Central Africa as well as South Asia have the highest prevalence of child marriage. In Niger, for example, 76 percent of women between the age of 20 and 24 were first married before they were 18 years old. In Bangladesh, it is 59 percent. While there are differences in prevalence within and across countries, child marriage remains a universal challenge, and occurs across regions, cultures, and religions. Continue reading “A license to rape” →

Animal Ethics, Human Rights, Philosophy

An evolutionary argument against exclusively human dignity

Traditional morality assumes that there is something morally special about being human. The fact that someone is a human being, rather than, say, a dog or a cow, makes a big difference in how he or she may be treated. Humans have full and equal moral worth or dignity and thus may not be killed, even if doing so would promote the greater good, whereas non-human animals have a lesser moral status and can be sacrificed for even the most trivial human pleasures.

This moral worldview fits well with the Aristotelian idea of a hierarchy of being, according to which each species is a static group of organisms with a distinct essence. The philosophical line that morally distinguishes humans from other animals corresponds to the empirical line that Aristotle thought distinguishes the human species from other animal species. Since the publication of Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species in 1859, however, we know that there is no such line on the empirical side of things. We now understand that all life is interrelated, and that biological characteristics come in degrees and continually evolve as a result of natural selection. As the principle of evolutionary continuity informs us, any differences between species are differences in degree, and not in kind. The real picture looks something like this:

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Bangladesh, Human Rights, Society, Tanzania

Child domestic labor: We must refuse to accept the unacceptable

Moyna cannot sit at the table and eat with the rest of the household. She is the other — in the house, but not a member of the house. Her humanity is reduced to the work she does. Who she is as a person, those around her do not know. She functions in the background, keeps the household running. She is a six-year-old domestic worker in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. “I wake up at six in the morning and go to bed at midnight. My daily chores include sweeping and wiping the floors and stairs, doing the dishes and laundry, opening the main gate downstairs, switching on machines, a little bit of shopping, cleaning the toilet.” In the morning, her workload is particularly heavy, Moyna tells a researcher with the Bangladesh-based Alternative Movement for Resources and Freedom Society. “I help to prepare breakfast, and I eat two breads for myself in a hurry. The same situation arises during lunch and dinner time; I always eat last.” Moyna has no father, and her mother remarried a man who beat her for no reason, which is why her grandmother sent her to Dhaka to work. She has never been to school. Her employer does not allow her to watch TV or talk to outsiders, and makes her wear worn-out clothes. She is slapped or verbally abused for small mishaps, and brutally beaten and locked up for up to 24 hours without food for what her employer considers more severe offenses. Continue reading “Child domestic labor: We must refuse to accept the unacceptable” →

Human Rights, LGBT rights, Philosophy, Society, Tanzania

Let Paul Makonda come to America

Should active enemies of freedom be allowed into free countries? In 2007, speaking at Columbia University in New York City, then-President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad memorably declared that there are no homosexuals in Iran, drawing derisive laughter from the audience. He also made similarly outrageous remarks about the Holocaust and women’s rights in Iran. Thousands protested, and the world saw him for what he is – an ignorant bigot who as president exhibited “all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator,” as the university’s president put it in his introduction. Untrue and immoral speech tends to discredit itself, especially under scrutiny, and that is precisely why it should not only be permitted but welcomed.

Secretary Mike Pompeo last week declared Paul Makonda and his wife, Mary Massenge, ineligible for entry into the United States. In a statement released by the U.S. State Department, Pompeo said he was banning Makonda “due to his involvement in gross violations of human rights, which include the flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, or the security of persons.” He did not state which right violations specifically led to the decision. I say, let him come, and treat him to some good old American free speech. Continue reading “Let Paul Makonda come to America” →