Humanist Campaign for Human Rights in Poland

Please consider supporting this petition!
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PETITION

POLAND: HANDS OFF HUMAN RIGHTS



Tell Poland’s government it must respect all human rights for all. Polish leaders have threatened criminal sanctions against lesbian and gay activists and organizations, have tried to restrict freedoms of expression and association, and have even threatened violence against LGBT marchers.


Human Rights Watch and Campaign Against Homophobia (Kampania Przeciw Homofobii, Poland’s central LGBT group) ask for YOUR signatures on this petition demanding an end to homophobic attacks.



Write to lgbt@hrw.org by NOON EST (5 PM GMT) ON FRIDAY, MAY 18. Simply give your NAME, COUNTRY OF ORIGIN, and any other identifying information you want included. PLEASE also let us know if you are signing on as an individual or an organization!


OR you can sign on through the web by visiting:

English: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/05/10/poland15894.htm

Español: http://hrw.org/spanish/docs/2007/05/10/poland15902.htm

Polski: http://hrw.org/polish/docs/2007/05/10/poland15897.htm

Pass the links around. A petition organized by religious-right forces, called “Homosexual hands off Poland!” got almost *9000* signatures before it was presented to President Kaczynski this week. Let’s show him how much strength sexual rights activists and LGBT people can muster. Campaign Against Homophobia will present the petition to Polish authorities after Warsaw’s Equality Parade on May 19, 2007.


English, version follows. PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS WIDELY! And please sign the petition by writing to lgbt@hrw.org --and stand up for human rights in Poland!



POLAND: Hands off Human Rights

The President of the Republic of Poland
Lech Kaczynski
ul. Wiejska 10
00-902 Warszawa, Poland

Dear President Kaczynski,

We urge you and your government to stop your attacks on the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. Such attacks betray Poland’s long, proud record of struggling for human rights. Upholding equal rights for all will help build a freer future.

Your government has declared it will fire gay teachers, and impose criminal penalties on “anyone who promotes homosexuality or any other deviance of a sexual nature in education establishments.” This blatant violation of basic rights could deprive students of potentially life-saving information about sexuality and about HIV/AIDS. Members of your government have accused organizations working on LGBT people’s human rights of “pedophilia,” and threatened them with criminal investigations. A legislator in your governing coalition said that gays who demonstrate “should be bashed with a baton.” In 2004 and 2005, when mayor of Warsaw, you yourself tried to ban Gay Pride marches, saying that “public promotion of homosexuality will not be allowed.” Your words and actions have contributed to a climate where violence against LGBT people is tolerated—or even encouraged.

Such words and acts threaten democracy.

This month, the European Court of Human Rights condemned your attempts to ban Gay Pride marches in Warsaw. The court praised a “pluralism … built on the genuine recognition of, and respect for, diversity”—including “genuine and effective respect for freedom of association and assembly.”

Last month, the European Parliament, motivated by events in Poland, passed a resolution “On Homophobia in Europe.” It condemned “discriminatory remarks by political and religious leaders targeting homosexuals.” It voiced “solidarity with, and support for, fundamental rights activists and defenders of equal rights for LGBT people.” It called for an official EU investigation of what is happening to LGBT people’s rights in Poland.

Do not isolate Poland by promoting intolerance and hate. Defend all human rights for all people, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Public Citzen's new web blog on Globalisation and Trade

The US based consumer group PUBLIC CITIZEN has just launched a new web blog on Globalisation and Trade. Here's how its originators describe its objectives: 'GTW aims to promote democracy by challenging corporate globalization, arguing that the current globalization model is neither a random inevitability nor "free trade." Eyes on Trade is a space for interested parties to share information about globalization and trade issues, and in particular for us to share our watchdogging insights with you!' Check it out!

Catching up in Person? Up-coming Events

Here's information about a conference the topic of which is genuinely close to my heart. I'm going to give a talk there, so please do let me know in case you read this blog on the odd occasion and you will be around. Always good to catch up in person when there's a chance.

Theoretical Perspectives on Global Health and Human Rights
19th April 2007 Institute of Law Medicine and Bioethics University of Liverpool Lecture theatre 3, Liverpool Law School

Convenors: Dr Maria Stuttaford and Professor Gillian Lewando Hundt, University of Warwick Professor John Harrington, University of Liverpool

13.30 - 13.40 Welcome Professor Alan Irwin (Dean of SES Liverpool)

13.40 – 14.00 Opening remarks Professor John Harrington (University of Liverpool), Dr Maria Stuttaford (University of Warwick), Professor Gillian Hundt (University of Warwick)

14.00 – 15.30 Professor Paul Hunt (UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health) ‘Reflections on Implementing the Right to Health’ Professor Upendra Baxi (University of Warwick) 'The Place of the Human Right to Health. Contemporary Approaches to Global Justice; Some Impertinent Interrogations'

16.00 – 17.30 Dr Lisa Forman (Canadian Institutes of Health Research) 'What Future for the Minimum Core? From the Margins to the Centre: The International Right to Health and the South African Experience'
Professor Udo Schüklenk (Glasgow Caledonian University) 'The 10/90 Gap in International Health Research - Drug R&D: Whose Moral Responsibility is it?' 17.30 End of Session 19.30 Dinner (details will be provided on a separate sheet)

20th April 2007 Institute of Law Medicine and Bioethics
University of Liverpool Lecture theatre 3, Liverpool Law School
9.30 – 11.00
Professor John Harris and Muireann Quigley (University of Manchester) on the ethical limits of global organ markets
Professor Simon Caney (University of Oxford) 'Global Justice, Health and Climate Change'

11.30 – 13.00 Professor Robyn Martin (University of Hertfordshire) 'Comparative National Population Health Laws And Comparative Approaches To Human Rights: Seeking Global Health In A Disparate World'
Dr Brigit Toebes (University of Aberdeen) 'Taking a Human Rights Approach to Health Care Commercialisation'

13.00 – 14.00 Lunch 14.00 – 14.45 Professor Roger Brownsword (King's College London) 'The Ancillary-Care Responsibilities of Researchers: Reasonable But Not Great Expectations'

14.45 -15.15 Concluding remarks Dr Maria Stuttaford and Professor Gillian Lewando Hundt, University of Warwick, Professor John Harrington, University of Liverpool