end degrading treatment at work

Kate Bennett should ask herself if protection from degrading treatment applies to the work place and in particular her own office.

Kate Bennett, the EHRC office’s Welsh director, said: “We are saying that public authorities should give the highest priority to the protection of human rights, whether that is the right to life or protection from degrading treatment.”
Family of dead man in human rights fight with police - WalesOnline Kate Bennett, the EHRC’s Welsh director, said: “We are saying that public authorities should give the highest priority to the protection of human rights, ...

Nestle Spin

Nestling into the British Government Source: The Independent (UK), May 11, 2008
As CMD has reported previously, the infant formula industry in the U.S. is committed to making sure that women aren't, as they put it, made to feel guilty about not breast feeding. But it seems that formula producers are also looking to make inroads in Europe, where rates of breast feeding are far higher than in the U.S.

The Independent "has uncovered strong ties between Nestle, the world's largest baby milk manufacturer, and the Department of Health. Rosie Cooper, a parliamentary private secretary to the Health minister Ben Bradshaw, is undergoing a year-long Industry and Parliament Trust fellowship with Nestle, and in February went for a week to South Africa as a guest of the group to oversee its corporate social responsibility activities."

Three other Labour Party members of Parliament accompanied her at Nestle's expense. Critics are alarmed that the corporation has made such inroads into the government. A spokesperson for Baby Milk Action, which together with UNICEF, Save the Children and the National Childhood Trust, has organized a boycott of Nestle, said "Time and again we see Nestle trying to ingratiate itself with health workers and policymakers through gifts, free trips, sponsorship and so-called partnerships. Surely the Government should not look to companies to fund and organise trips such as this."

Rich adv9ise Brown on poverty?

I was reading the article Networked from birth and was reasured that gordon brown was on the right track when I saw that Jennifer Moses, is advising on SOCIAL mobility!! Miss Moses, 45, joined Number 10 as head of special projects in March developing policies designed to alleviate poverty by improving social mobility.
and i read that she spent £500,000 on her 40th birthday party! She also has an offshore mortgage on her £10m London home that could save her thousands of pounds in UK tax.
Remember, Jennifer is the employer who didn’t notice when her secretary stole £1.2 million from her personal account. Her husband spent £17,000 on wine in a single year. Her advice to the Prime Minister must be priceless.
She spent 11 years in banking, with stints in Hong Kong, Tokyo, and New York. She is married to Ron Beller, an investment banker and founder of the hedge fund Peloton Partners, which was once worth $2 billion. It in effect went bust last month after investments in US mortgages plummeted in value. The couple bought their house in 1999 and took out a loan on it in the Isle of Man in 2004.
Apparently in addition to her previous role on the board of Britain's most fashionable raunchy lingerie firm, Agent Provocateur – slogan “less M&S, more S&M” American-born Ms Moses, 46, is also a former Goldmans executive and the possessor of a multi-million-pound fortune. She has been described by Michael Gove, the Tory education spokesman and a close friend, as a cross between "Eleanor Roosevelt, a character from Sex And the City and a Woody Allen heroine”.
The daily Mail reports that her Downing Street appointment came despite a series of reports she has written as chief executive of the liberal think tank CentreForum which have been openly critical of Mr Brown and the Labour Government. For the past two years Moses has been chief executive of CentreForum, the think tank that specialises in attacking the sacred cows of Labour’s social policy. Doesn't say a lot for them either.
Ms Moses, a libertarian with a social conscience, supports city academies and private money in the state education system - an anathema to many Labour MPs and me too.

Iraqis allege sex abuse at the British Embassy

Appalling...just gets worse....

'Some KBR managers groped Iraqi staff regularly, paid or otherwise rewarded them for sex and dismissed t

hose who refused or spoke out.' Iraqis allege sex abuse at the British Embassy 08 May 2008 An Iraqi cleaner and two cooks claim that a culture of sexual harassment, abuse and bullying exists at the British Embassy in Baghdad. The middle-aged cleaner told The Times that a British contractor with KBR, the company hired to maintain the embassy’s premises, offered to double her daily pay if she would stay the night with him. When she refused, she said, her pay was cut and she was later dismissed.

The Iraqis accuse the embassy of leaving the abuse unchallenged and failing adequately to respond to complaints against several British managers for KBR. The company was allowed to conduct its own inquiry, an arrangement criticised as a very serious conflict of interest. [See: KBR's Rape Problem By Karen Houppert 17 Apr 2008;
KBR's Flawed Wiring Still Kills G.I.'s, Despite Alert 04 May 2008 Memo: Halliburton failed to purify GIs' water 16 Mar 2006; KBR awarded $385M Homeland Security contract for U.S. detention centers 24 Jan 2006; Contractor served troops dirty food in dirty kitchens 14 Dec 2003. Gee, it all kinda makes you want to stand up and cheer for Muqtada al-Sadr, doesn't it?]

Impact of armed conflict on human rights violations

Time to recognize that the impact of armed conflicts such as forced

displacement, impoverishment and gender

biased violence as human rights violations

Amnesty International in Cardiff will not recognise this and maintain they have to support militarism and arms dealers so we can have well armed peacekeepers! But is the Welsh branch run by the morgan Mafia??? So there might just be other reasons.

Gender and Armed Conflict
A newsletter on the gender dimensions of wars and conflicts, prepared by the Centre for Women of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. In 2008-2009, the Centre for Women will publish two new publications related to women, peace and security. UN-ESCWA, 2007

SWEDISH PROSTITUTION: GONE OR JUST HIDDEN?

Sweden's tough laws banning men from paying for sex are grabbing international attention, with Britain considering similar measures. But is there really less prostitution in Sweden now?
http://www.thelocal.se/email/5/3027/9621/

I am sure there is less prostitution and trafficking and it is time we moved forward on this asHarriet Harmen suggested. Amazingly there has been very little noise made by our female MPs in support. What are they waiting for?

Sweden's Prostitution Solution: Why Hasn't Anyone Tried

"In Sweden prostitution is regarded as an aspect of male violence against women and children. It is officially acknowledged as a form of exploitation of ... www.justicewomen.com/cj_sweden.html - 32k - Cached -

Green wash all round

Happy new year!

Did you see the echo tonight talking about the battle for cardiff council and the parties manifestos.... how green are they ...plenty of greenwash there. Where is the Green party?

Battle to stop incinerator is stepped up but not in Cardiff - PUBLIC meeting has been organised by residents fighting plans to build a massive £140 million waste incinerator. Viridor Waste Management is set to submit ...

New LABOUR GREEN WASH...
www.climatechangewales.org.uk Wow!! No mention of open cast mining at Ffos y Fran, East Merthyr on the Go green online A CLIMATE change website for Welsh people launched by Environment Minister Jane Davidson. Read
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/cardiff-news/2007/12/31/go-green-online-91466-20298932/

Minister wants boys to play with fire!

'Let boys play with toy guns' Ministers tell nursery staff - toy guns can help learning and as Tanya Gold in todays Guardian (Men want us lobotomised) could point out, men think with hard round objects in their hands. What genius came 'up' with that idea in the bath?

Hackabee thinks women should submit to heir husbands?

Huckabee Thinks Women Should "Graciously Submit" to Their Husbands
By Lucinda Marshall, Feminist Peace Network
Lucinda Marshall is a feminist artist, writer and activist. She is the Founder of the Feminist Peace Network.

Is it legal...to covertly access peoples web pages

Online investigations into job candidates could be illegal
Guardian Unlimited, UK - Companies could be infringing privacy if they dig up information about job applicants from social networking websites, an internet expert has warned. ...
However, it remains unclear whether organisations covertly accessing people's private web pages or email accounts would constitute a breach of the law....

Well this wont apply to ERHC?

wave of voilence against women in iraq

'Wave Of Violence' Against Women In Iraq Undercuts Bush's Claims Of SuccessBy Amanda Terkel, Think ProgressBush has largely ignored the deteriorating plight of Iraqi women. Read more »
.............NBC Nightly News aired a segment about a "wave of violence that's gone largely unreported lately against women in Iraq." The report noted that Iraqi women, once "the most emancipated in the Arab world," are increasingly unable to walk around without a hijab, wear cosmetics, or work. Watch the report to your right.
Bush has largely ignored the deteriorating plight of Iraqi women, choosing instead to cite signs of "progress." Yet earlier in the war, he and other administration officials repeatedly claimed that the rights of Iraqi women were "inseparable" to success:
"The advance of women's rights and the advance of liberty are ultimately inseparable." [President Bush, 3/14/04]
"President Bush has made the advance of women's human rights a global policy priority. ... We all have an obligation to speak for women who are denied their rights to learn, to vote or to live in freedom." [Laura Bush, 3/8/05]
"The commitment of this administration to women's rights in Iraq is unshakable." [Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, 3/9/04]

"There can be no compromise on the principle that Iraqis can each have an equal role in the building of their country's future without regard to their ethnic or religious background or gender." [Former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad, 8/8/05]
'You can come upon women's bodies anywhere' Iraq Guardian ...
Life was supposed to get better for women in Iraq after the ousting of Saddam. The reality has been rocketing rates of rape, murder, domestic violence and ...www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2082705,00.html - 46k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
For the women of Iraq, the war is just beginning - Independent ...
Three years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, women's secular freedoms - once the envy ... they say, is incapable of engineering any change for the better. ...news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article717570.ece - Similar pages - Note this

CEHR whoops ERCH Scotland

www.equalityforwardscotland.ac.uk/documents/33File Format: Microsoft Powerpoint - View as HTML
Wales: Neil Wooding. Disability: Jane Campbell ... Advise CEHR on exercise of its function in so far as they affect Scotland; CEHR must consult the Scotland ...
Similar pages - Note this

regulating the bloggers committee to discuss members blogging!

Regulating the bloggers By Peter Black(Peter Black) The Welsh Assembly's Standards' Committee is meeting on Wednesday evening to discuss, amongst other things, the use of blog sites by members. The agenda tells us that the Committee is invited to consider the issue of Members publishing ...Peter Black AM - http://peterblack.blogspot.com/

Breastfeeding

To encourage breastfeeding it would be useful if the council provided the resources to be able to do so in public at leisure centres first before providing rooms which send a negative message to women and oblige them to use them! Toilets, breastfeeding room??? UCK!
For example in the Llanishen leisure centre the seats by the pool are bolted to the floor and that makes it impossible to sit there to feed a baby and by the way it males the seating unsuitable for many disabled people and also small children.

Step One
Come on Cardiff Council make seating breast feeding friendly - disabled friendly and childfriendly!!

Step 2 A campaign with pictures of women breast feeding would be positive and normalise the practice

Step 3 A stop to advertising tinned artificial baby milk would be a first step particularly in the hospital.

Questions
Do they still give mothers are given formula samples on their way out the hospital door. Is it conspicuously absent from hospitals, and advertising banned?

Try the internet and look for advice for mums to be and you get cow and gate and milupa offering chat and on line advice - cow and gate say chat to our midwives and online pregnancy forum! What midwives are these - hope they aren't working for NHS!

This should be banned! Perhaps there should be some research done here into marketuing strategies designed to undermine breastfeeding!

In USA
Impeding Breast Feeding: The infant formula industry and its trade association, the International Formula Council (IFC), continue to pursue marketing strategies designed to undermine breastfeeding, even though babies that are not breast fed suffer higher rates of health problems including sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), diabetes, lymphoma, leukemia, Hodgkin's disease, obesity, high cholesterol and asthma. Peggy O'Mara, the editor of Mothering Magazine, has noticed several IFC-affiliated "stealth" websites "that appear to be grassroots advocacy sites, but are actually mouthpieces for the formula industry." The websites, MomsFeedingFreedom.com and Babyfeedingchoice.org, are campaigning against proposed restrictions on the free bags of infant formula being given to new parents by hospitals. BanTheBags, which supports a ban on free samples, observes that the sites "use classic formula company strategies, paying lip service to benefits of breastfeeding even as they promote formula. When breastfeeding is mentioned, it’s a chore and a bother." The formula industry was especially vocal about frank ads being developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to warn about the consequences of not breastfeeding. According to the Washington Post, HHS bowed to industry pressure and toned down the ads so significantly that after they aired, the rate of breastfeeding in the U.S. actually dropped measurably.

Try Association of Breastfeeding Mothers Tel. 08444 122 949
The Breastfeeding Network Tel. 0844 412 4664
La Leche LeagueTel. 0845 120 2918
National Childbirth Trust Tel. 0870 444 8708
The Breastfeeding Network - breastfeeding support in Bengali and Sylhetti Tel. 07944 879 759

Killing fields of Iraq 30,000 ill with Cholera

Emergency Relief for Iraq's Cholera Outbreak (AmeriCares) 09 Nov 2007

Some 30,000 people in Iraq have become seriously ill with cholera and other forms of dehydrating watery diarrhea which has spread through the northern part of the country [thanks to Bush].

Why is the Welsh Government supoporting cluster bomb manufacturers?

Why is the Welsh Government Supporting Cluster Bomb Manufacturers?
Monday 5th November is the Global Day of Action Against Cluster Bombs, which will demonstrate global public concern about the problems of cluster bombs and their impact on civilians. Campaigners, led by the Cluster Munition Coalition, will call on governments to join the international effort towards a treaty to ban them.

Although the UK pledged its support of the ban, it has since stated that it intends to maintain a certain type of cluster bomb, even though this very type has been proven in Lebanon to be indiscriminately lethal. In 2005, a European Parliament resolution was introduced to ban investments in companies, such as Raytheon, that produce cluster munitions. In response to this, Norway and Belgium have already endorsed this call. Liverpool City Council has also recently adopted a similar position.

Yet the Welsh government has ignored all of these concerns, and instead launched a high profile development project with Raytheon. Raytheon is a central member of the Metrix Consortium that was awarded the St Athan Defence Training Academy contract in January 2007.

According to Metrix CEO, Raytheon is “at the core of the training system redesign” the Consortium proposed to the UK Ministry of Defence.

The St Athan Defence Academy has been supported by all of the main political parties in Wales and sold to the public on the basis of alleged benefits to the economy. The involvement in the project of the world’s largest arms companies has so far not received any attention.

Given the evident public concern over cluster bombs and the arms trade more generally, I am sure that most people would be shocked to hear that the Assembly has laid a welcome mat for such companies, especially at a time when other governments are turning their backs on them.

Rhodri Morgan and Peter Hain both recently rushed to reassure the public that the Academy would still go ahead, despite a major setback about phase two of the development.

Jill Gough of CND Cymru said,
How far do we have to go before politicians of Wales’ four main parties realise that the whole project is a terrible mistake and is not going anywhere? It does nothing to deliver the Wales that people in this country want: a Wales that honestly addresses global warming and other environmental problems, champions human rights, teaches our children that violence solves nothing, does not invest in the arms trade, encourages valuable, long term employment and delivers decent public services.”

See
Cynefin Y Werin www.cynefinywerin.org.uk

Women Voice http://welshwomensvoice.blogspot.com/

Murder Academy ttp://www.nomurderacademyatstathans.com/

McMercenaries -The truth about the Metrix Consortium
http://metrixconsortium.blogspot.com/

Our politicans on St Athan

Offical campaign email no2militaryacademy@inbox.com

St Athan Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4156619706

Improving access to Cardiff Airport - would be necessary for Raytheon Military Traing Academy to come to Wales

Improving access to Cardiff International Airport
Following the public exhibitions held in early October 2007 the Welsh Assembly Government has decided to hold two additional exhibitions.

The exhibitions are part of an ongoing study, which is investigating options for improving transport access to the airport and possible improvements at Culverhouse Cross.
Friday, 30 November10 am to 8 pmWenvoe Community CentreOld Port Road, Wenvoe, CF5 6AL
Saturday, 1 December 10 am to 5 pmCowbridge Leisure CentreThe Bear Field,Cowbridge, CF71 7DA Please note these two exhibitions are a repeat of those held in October and won't include any new material.

Shouldn't the WAG and Rhrodri Morgan consult more widely - surely there should be a exhibit in Cardiff?

Our politicans on St Athan

McMercenaries -The truth about the Metrix Consortium

Murder Academy

http://new.wales.gov.uk/topics/transport/roads/NewRoads3/ImprovingAccessToCardiffAirport/?lang=en

Improving Access to Cardiff International Airport

Newsletters Newsletter No.1 – Autumn 2007

2007 Public Exhibition Board 1 = Welcome Board

Board 2 = Previous Studies
Board 3 = Trunk Road Forward Programme
Board 4 = Recent Announcements
Board 5 = Context Plan
Board 6 = Aerial Photograph – M4 south to A48
Board 7 = Aerial Photograph – A48 south to coast
Board 8 = Environment
Board 9 = Transport
Board 10 = Issues Identified so Far
Board 11 = Potential Options
Board 12 = Thank you and What Happens Next

Public Exhibition Comment Form

Department for Transport - Chapter 6 - Wales

Cardiff International Airport is the largest airport in Wales; ... there will be a need to improve access to Cardiff International Airport. ...
www.dft.gov.uk/about/strategy/whitepapers/air/chapter6wales - 19k

Global Day of Action to Ban cluster Bombs - keep Raytheon cluster bomb maker out of Wales

Rhrodri Morgan and the Welsh Assembly government have celebrated Raytheon -cluster bomb maker to Wales to TEACH our young people at St Athan Military Training academy - the biggest ever privatisation in the UK - selling off military training to the biggest arms dealers - vile companies that any ethical counrty or any country with an ethical investment policy wouldn't consider investing in never mind begging for them to come and teach their children! See for more info http://metrixconsortium.blogspot.com/
http://www.nomurderacademyatstathans.com/
http://www.cynefinywerin.org.uk/

Read also QinetiQ, the War Profiteer Welsh Politicians Love to Love

The Cluster bomb feeling documentary on investment of Dutch pension fund in arms industry
Banking Secretsdocumentary on investments of Dutch banks in arms industry and other dodgy projects.
Whats it about?
The Global Day of Action to Ban Cluster Bombs is an opportunity for campaigners to organise and participate in public actions and media work exactly one month before the Vienna Conference.

It is a day to demonstrate global public concern about the problems of cluster bombs and their impact on civilians, and to call on governments to join the international effort towards a treaty to ban them. It will be the last opportunity for governments to revise their domestic positions and policies on cluster munitions before the Vienna conference, and to make sure that they go to the Vienna conference to participate meaningfully in treaty discussions.

Vienna is the next international conference on cluster munitions and takes place from 5 – 7 December 2007. In Vienna, governments will be discussing elements of the future international treaty, and we must make sure that government representatives attending the conference understand the demands of the general public in their country. There is a limited opportunity to engage States before Vienna and campaigns need to generate a sense of urgency that their governments must go to Vienna to participate in treaty discussions.

Download the Global Day of Action Campaign Toolkit (en español) and some of the visual images and messages which can be adapted and used by campaigners.

Campaign Materials available here

For more information on how to get involved contact laura@stopclustermunitions.org

http://caatblog.wordpress.com/

read also

QinetiQ, the War Profiteer Welsh Politicians Love to Love

QinetiQ, the War Profiteer Welsh Politicians Love to Love

October 2007 by Stuart Tannock

Mercenary deaths not counted

Names of ex-soldiers not in Iraq death toll
The Herald - Glasgow,Scotland,UK
While 133 British soldiers and airmen have died as the result of hostile action since 2003, at least 44 British private security employees have also been ...

PCS welcome MOD U Turn on Privatisation

PCS oppose and campaign against the proposed privatisation of the military to arms companies which lies at the heart of the St Athan project.

PCS: Union welcomes MoD U-turn on training privatisation

Thursday, 25 Oct 2007 16:22

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) welcomed today’s announcement by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to halt the privatisation of approximately 4,000 staff who train the armed forces in driving armoured vehicles, lorries and jeeps as well as languages.

The union hailed the decision to keep one half of defence training in the public sector as a victory for common sense which would ensure world class training for the armed forces whilst providing value for money for the taxpayer.

PCS called on the MoD to see sense and halt the privatisation of the other half of defence training which includes technical and mechanical training. The union warned that pushing ahead with remaining half of defence training would represent poor value for money and lead to a loss of knowledge and experience as staff would refuse to relocate to the new training base in South Wales.

The main sites that will be remaining in the public sector are: Worthy Down and Marchwood in Winchester, Southwark Park in Portsmouth, Leconfield n Hull, , Aldershot, Beaconsfield and Chicksands in Cambridgeshire.

PCS members are currently voting on further national strike action across the civil service as part of the union’s campaign against job cuts, below inflation pay and privatisation. The campaign has already seen two strongly supported national one day strikes this year. The ballot closes on 31 October 2007 and the result is expected to be announced shortly after.

Commenting, Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: “Thanks to the well argued case put by PCS, the MoD have rightly recognised that keeping the linguistics and driver training of armed forces in the public sector, not only represents value for money but ensures the continuity in world class training. They now have to see sense and recognise that privatising the remainder of defence training will result in poor value for money and a poorer quality of training for our armed forces as experienced staff refuse to relocate. The union can take heart from this announcement and will be making a renewed effort to convince the MoD that the remaining privatisation is unnecessary and damaging.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

For further information, interviews and comment please contact
Alex Flynn PCS national press officer on 020 7801 2820 or 07833 978216.

PCS, the Public and Commercial Services Union is the union
representing civil and public servants in central government. It has over 315,000 members in over 200 departments and agencies. It also represents workers in parts of government transferred to the private sector. PCS is the UK’s sixth largest union and is affiliated to the TUC. The general secretary is Mark Serwotka and the president is Janice Godrich.

Alex Flynn
National Press Officer
Public and Commercial Services Union
160 Falcon Rd
London SW11 2LN

Direct line: 020 7801 2747
Mobile: 07833 978 216
Fax: 020 7924 1847