Free Republic

Delegates at the United Nations General Assembly are finalizing negotiations on a resolution that would require all U.N. agencies to declare abortion a human right, reportedly due to pressure from the European Union and the Biden administration. The resolution contains language about abortion that has reportedly been rejected in other resolutions over the past decade. As the Center for Family and Human Rights (C-Fam) earlier reported, it's being considered for adoption by the end of the month. According to C-Fam, the resolution declares that governments should secure “access to safe abortion” as a matter of policy and “ensure the promotion...

The same people who spent the last decade telling you health care is a human right now want to be able to deny it to you.As if it wasn’t enough to hound people without the COVID-19 shot out of their jobs, schools, and even effectively whole cities, pundits and even some doctors are now floating the idea of denying medical care to people based on COVID-19 vaccination status.“Is it time to put those who are endangering public health by refusing vaccines on notice that if they need care they will go to the end of the line, behind the patients...

We are now in the process of being overloaded beyond our abilities There’s something very wrong with this world, today. We all know it. We all feel it. There’s something in the air that is causing anxiety and a general feeling of unease in the world at large. There are people who appear to be losing their minds on command and creating all manner of chaos and heinous crimes. Although mental illness has always been a part of some within the family of humanity it seems—recently—to have taken an ugly turn towards an even more aggressive madness in all too...

U.S. 'very engaged' on N.K. human rights issue: official WASHINGTON, May 29 (Yonhap) -- The United States is "very engaged" in efforts to end North Korea's human rights abuses as the two sides prepare for a potential meeting between their leaders next month, a senior U.S. official said Tuesday. Sam Brownback, ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, told reporters the issue is being discussed at the highest levels ahead of the summit expected for June 12 in Singapore between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. "In a sense it already has (been raised), with the three people...

[N. Korea] Guilt-by-association: Growing up in a political prison camp [As Heard in North Korea] Unification Media Group | 2016-12-22 10:42 Beginning in November, the Center for Investigation & Documentation on Human Rights in North Korea (established in accordance with South Korea’s recently passed Human Rights Act) will launch a fact-finding investigation into human rights abuses in North Korea. During the investigation, the South Korean government will create an archive for reports into human rights abuses and build evidence to determine which individuals in the North Korean government are directly responsible for the crimes. In support of these efforts, Daily...

The right of self-defense is a HUMAN RIGHT, not simply an American Right enshrined in the 2A. If someone walked up to a citizen in France and punched them in the nose, that person would have the right to punch back instead of simply taking the beating. If their family was being beaten up would they have to stand there and watch without interceding? Force is to be met with equal force when one or one's family is attacked. This example proves that is so. To do otherwise is repugnant to any citizen of this planet. Yet force is not...

Responding to a Texas case in which state officials are asking that a federal court toss a birthright citizenship lawsuit, Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley declared today that “citizenship is a human right.”Background on the case from the Associated Press: Lawyers representing 19 immigrant parents and their 23 children filed suit against the Texas Department of State Health Services after officials refused to issue birth certificates for their U.S.-born children, citing invalid forms of identification. The parents came from Mexico and Central America and living in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, along the U.S.-Mexico border.…The Texas Department of State Health...

North Korea seeks to forge alliance with Russia: official November 21, 2014 Kim Jong-un asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to exert influence to help silence international debate on his country’s dismal human rights record, according to a South Korean official. By Kim Kwang-tae SEOUL (Yonhap) — North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has expressed hope of forging an alliance with Moscow as he asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to exert influence to help silence international debate on his country’s dismal human rights record, a South Korean official said Friday. The rare move represents Pyongyang’s desperate attempts to find a diplomatic exit...

Kim Jong-un accountable for massive human rights atrocities, says UN Comments by special rapporteur in North Korea are strongest yet about supreme leader’s responsibility for abuses Reuters in Seoul The Guardian, Thursday 13 November 2014 08.30 GMT A UN investigator has said there is enough evidence to hold North Korean leader Kim Jong-un accountable for “massive” human rights atrocities committed by the state. The comments by Marzuki Darusman, special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, are some of the strongest yet from the UN about Kim’s responsibility for what they say are widespread abuses. A UN inquiry concluded in...

SF Mayor Gavin Newsom has declared universal access to wireless Internet to be a "fundamental right of all citizens" and stated that access to the Internet "is a civil rights issue as much as anything else."  This is the same San Francisco government pushing a complete ban of all handguns within city limits.  They are putting it to a referendum and proposition H will be on San Francisco city ballots next month.  If it passes, any possession of a handgun within city limits will be banned.  Everyone but government personnel and security guards will have to surrender their handguns within 90 days. ...

Is access to the Internet a "civil right?" Each individual's answer to this question is generally dependent upon a variety of factors — political affiliation, geographic location, economic status and the like. While one side of the debate claims that high speed broadband access is most certainly a right that everyone, regardless of socioeconomic status, should enjoy, others disagree. Really, the entire debate is focused upon the "haves" and "have nots" (i.e. the people fortunate enough to have access at home or in their local communities and those who do not have the ability, for a variety of reasons, to...

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, a potential Democratic White House contender, said in an interview published Wednesday that "Wi-Fi is a human right." O'Malley, a two-term governor who has fundraised vigorously for Democrats running in midterms races this year, said in an interview with CNN that he can relate to his 20-something daughters. "I am noticing a generational shift. While baby boomers were led to believe that sometimes our prosperity comes from separating from other[s], people under 40 believe that it will come from being closer to others," he said. O’Malley said young people are no longer following the path of...

Governor of Maryland and potential 2016 Democrat presidential candidate Martin O'Malley raised eyebrows on Wednesday when he was quoted in a CNN profiledeclaring access to wireless internet (WiFi) as a "human right." The quote occurred when O'Malley was discussing the "rebirth" of the American city and the skills of young people that make these changes happen. 

Reading this made me feel like Ron Burgundy listening to Baxter tell him he ate a whole wheel of cheese: I’m not even mad. It’s amazing.Jon Ward of Yahoo News wonders if the next human right is the right to Frosted Flakes. “Baby boomers and older were often told that if we specialize in terms of our skills, we will be more secure and prosperous, that the definition of ‘making it” was living out in the suburbs as far way as possible with the biggest lawn possible,” he said. “Young people have flipped that on its head. Younger people...

North Korea: We have the 'most advantageous human rights system' By Madison Park, CNN September 15, 2014 -- Updated 0851 GMT (1651 HKT) (CNN) -- North Korea has "the world's most advantageous human rights system," the country declared in a lengthy report released on Saturday. Its political system "bestows upon (its citizens) priceless political integrity." Its economic system "ensures people an independent and creative working life, as well as affluent and civilized living standard," according to a report by the DPRK Association for Human Rights Studies. The 53,000-word report -- which repeats the phrase "human rights" over 700 times --...

17 March 2014 Last updated at 11:32 China backs North Korea on human rights China has dismissed a UN report that compared human rights abuses in North Korea to those in Nazi Germany. A Chinese diplomat said the report lacked credibility, adding to fears that Beijing will block further action. He said some of the recommendations were divorced from reality. North Korea called the report - which details murder, torture and starvation - a fabrication by hostile forces. It was drawn up by UN-appointed jurists to document abuses in North Korea. The head of the international panel of inquiry, Michael...

Where There Is No Truth, There Is No Freedom [A Czech Citizen Remembers...] By Alexandra L., intern [2012-01-05 15:04 ] “When truth is not given complete freedom, freedom is not complete." Václav Havel, the first president of the Czech Republic and a prominent figure in its struggle for democracy during the communist era, passed away on December 18th, 2011, just a day before the death of Kim Jong Il was reported. It was a coincidence that brought talk of the end of an era. “With Václav Havel left a man who had given back the Czech nation its dignity, a...

North Korea suspected in poison-needle attacks Analysts say three incidents targeting South Korea activists seeking to help defectors point to an increasingly belligerent regime willing to use any means to silence critics of Kim Jong Il. By Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times October 9, 2011, 10:01 p.m. Reporting from Beijing— On a Sunday evening in August, a middle-aged South Korean pastor collapsed suddenly near a taxi stand in Dandong, a Chinese city on the Yalu River overlooking North Korea. The 46-year-old, who used the name Patrick Kim, had a discolored complexion, spots on his fingers and limbs, flecks of foam...

A United Nations report released Friday declares Internet access a human right. Presented to the General Assembly, the report by UN Special Rapporteur Frank La Rue states that, "the Internet has become a key means by which individuals can exercise their right to freedom and expression."As LaRue highlighted, Internet access can be particularly valuable during times of political unrest, as evidenced in the Arab Spring uprisings. LaRue emphasized the power of the Internet as a communication medium and said in his report that, "given that the Internet has become an indispensable tool for realizing a range of human rights, combating...

New images of North’s prison camps Satellite images and new testimony released by Amnesty International yesterday show that political prison camps in North Korea hold an estimated 200,000 people, a considerable increase compared to a decade ago. North Korean political prison camps have been notorious for torturing and starving prisoners, which often leads to death. The new imagery shows the location and size of the camps, demonstrating a “significant increase” compared to satellite images of the camps from 2001. “As North Korea seems to be moving towards a new leader in Kim Jong-un and a period of political instability, the...