U.N. Envoy: U.S. Isn't Protecting Occupy Protesters' Rights - Polidicks

[QUOTE]WASHINGTON -- The United Nations envoy for freedom of expression is drafting an official communication to the U.S. government demanding to know why federal officials are not protecting the rights of Occupy demonstrators whose protests are being disbanded -- sometimes violently -- by local authorities. Frank La Rue, who serves as the U.N. "special rapporteur" for the protection of free expression, told HuffPost in an interview that the crackdowns against Occupy protesters appear to be violating their human and constitutional rights. "I believe in city ordinances and I believe in maintaining urban order," he said Thursday. "But on the other hand I also believe that the state -- in this case the federal state -- has an obligation to protect and promote human rights." [b]"If I were going to pit a city ordinance against human rights, I would always take human rights," he continued.[/b] La Rue, a longtime Guatemalan human rights activist who has held his U.N. post for three years, said it's clear to him that the protesters have a right to occupy public spaces "as long as that doesn't severely affect the rights of others." In moments of crisis, governments often default to a forceful response instead of a dialogue, he said -- but that's a mistake. [b]"Citizens have the right to dissent with the authorities, and there's no need to use public force to silence that dissension," he said.[/b] "One of the principles is proportionality," La Rue said. "The use of police force is legitimate to maintain public order -- but there has to be a danger of real harm, a clear and present danger. And second, there has to be a proportionality of the force employed to prevent a real danger." And history suggests that harsh tactics against social movements don't work anyway, he said. In Occupy's case, he said, "disbanding them by force won't change that attitude of indignation." Occupy encampments across the country have been forcibly removed by police in full riot gear, and some protesters have been badly injured as a result of aggressive police tactics. New York police staged a night raid on the original Occupy Wall Street encampment in mid-November, evicting sleeping demonstrators and confiscating vast amounts of property. The Oakland Police Department fired tear gas, smoke grenades and bean-bag rounds at demonstrators there in late October, seriously injuring one Iraq War veteran at the Occupy site. Earlier this week, Philadelphia and Los Angeles police stormed the encampments in their cities in the middle of the night, evicting and arresting hundreds of protesters. Protesters at University of California, Davis were pepper sprayed by a campus police officer in November while participating in a sit-in, and in September an officer in New York pepper sprayed protesters who were legally standing on the sidewalk. "We're seeing widespread violations of fundamental First Amendment and Fourth Amendment rights," said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, co-chair of a National Lawyers Guild committee, which has sent hundreds of volunteers to provide legal representation to Occupations across the nation. "The demonstrations are treated as if they're presumptively criminal," she said. "Instead of looking at free speech activity as an honored and cherished right that should be supported and facilitated, the reaction of local authorities and police is very frequently to look at it as a crime scene." What they should do, Verheyden-Hilliard said, is make it their mission to allow the activity to continue. [b]Using the same lens placed on the Occupy movement to look at, say, the protest in Egypt, Verheyden-Hilliard said, observers would have focused on such issues as "Did the people in Tahrir Square have a permit?"[/b] La Rue said the protesters are raising and addressing a fundamental issue. "There is legitimate reason to be indignant and angry about a crisis that was originated by greed and the personal interests of certain sectors," he said. That's especially the case when the bankers "still earn very hefty salaries and common folks are losing their homes." "In this case, the demonstrations are going to the center of the issue," he said. "These demonstrations are exactly challenging the basis of the debate." Indeed, commentators such as Robert Scheer have argued that the Occupy movement's citizen action has a particular justification, based on the government's abject failure to hold banks accountable. La Rue said he sees parallels between Occupy and the Arab Spring pro-democracy protests. In both cases, for instance, "you have high level of education for young people, but no opportunities." [b]La Rue said he is in the process of writing what he called "an official communication" to the U.S. government "to ask what exactly is the position of the federal government in regards to understanding the human rights and constitutional rights vis-a-vis the use of local police and local authorities to disband peaceful demonstrations."[/b] Although the letter will not carry any legal authority, it reflects how the violent suppression of dissent threatens to damage the U.S.'s international reputation. "I think it's a dangerous spot in the sense of a precedent," La Rue said, expressing concern that the United States risks losing its credibility as a model democracy, particularly if the excessive use of force against peaceful protests continues. New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman welcomed the international scrutiny. [b]"We live in a much smaller, connected world than we ever did before, and just as Americans watch what goes on in Tahrir Square and in Syria, the whole world is watching us, too -- and that's a good thing," Lieberman said.[/b] "We're kind of confident that we're living in the greatest democracy in the world, but when the international human rights world criticizes an American police officer for pepper spraying students who are sitting down, it rightly give us pause."[/QUOTE] Source: [url]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/02/occupy-wall-street-un-envoy_n_1125860.html?ref=mostpopular[/url]

They're right.

But then again who's going to listen to the UN? If you're on the security council you could pretty much fuck all.

Atleast someone noticed.

I can see where this argument could get out of hand. Those against the protests could just turn it right back against them and say humans have a right to movement, sanitation, etc. etc. that the protests supposedly restrict.

Fuck, somebody gets it. The U.N. should do something about it. Ohh yeah, the U.S. refuses to allow the U.N. to carry any weight in the U.S. even though the Headquarters are based right in the middle of New York City. Funny enough, the ICC would almost definitely have universal jurisdiction if the U.S. hadn't pitched a bitch fit and cried about it until they gave up on the issue.

I still say a government restructure is most likely on the way if shit like this keeps happening.

I bet judges are annoyed as hell with the flowing amount of protestors being brought into court for small to pointless reasons. I wonder how many of them have been dropped.

What rights? Wait, they are still supposed to have any rights? That's news to me.

[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;33581138]What rights? Wait, they are still supposed to have any rights? That's news to me.[/QUOTE] I don't think the UN got the message. The postal service has been refusing to work because the UN burdens the system with so many letters.

That's the first thing i noticed when videos started appearing on youtube. I never thought i'd see this behaviour in a western democracy.

U.N. condemns actions of *insert political body here* over-seas: "Yeah, fuck you guys! The U.N. says you're terrible so shame on you!" U.N. speaks out against how Occupy protestors are treated: "Yeah well fuck you U.N. what good are you anyway?" Sadly I predict that will be the general consensus. 2 Agrees? Man, I was worried people would be mis-reading what I said and shower boxes upon me. :v:

Now would be a good time to occupy the U.N. building to get some backing and media coverage.

Man, it's pretty fucking sad when the US has to be chided by the UN for human rights abuses. Disband the DHS and quit with this Gestapo bullshit on peaceful protests.

I knew this would happen sooner or later But would our governing body change? Fuck no

[QUOTE=Zero-Point;33581473] 2 Agrees? Man, I was worried people would be mis-reading what I said and shower boxes upon me. :v:[/QUOTE] The way you say that makes it sound like Agrees, Winners, etc. are some sort of currency on Facepunch.

[QUOTE=Hidole555;33586028]The way you say that makes it sound like Agrees, Winners, etc. are some sort of currency on Facepunch.[/QUOTE] I'm just livin' rating to rating, man.

But will this cause anything to happen? No; and this is why [url]http://www.wimp.com/politicianslanguage/[/url]

[QUOTE=valkery;33586651]But will this cause anything to happen? No; and this is why [url]http://www.wimp.com/politicianslanguage/[/url][/QUOTE] Washington doesn't give a fuck, the last I heard all Obama had to say about this whole ordeal was "people are understandably upset".

surprising how?

[img]http://www.bookofjesus.org/images/vft65dbdnh0xp3w7vhb.gif[/img]

[QUOTE=Snowmew;33580755]I can see where this argument could get out of hand. Those against the protests could just turn it right back against them and say humans have a right to movement, sanitation, etc. etc. that the protests supposedly restrict.[/QUOTE] "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, [b]movement[/b], or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble [b]or bathe[/b], and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." Freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, petition, bathing and movement just doesn't sound as good.

[QUOTE=Biggins;33589941][IMG]http://www.bookofjesus.org/images/vft65dbdnh0xp3w7vhb.gif[/IMG][/QUOTE] You're #1 at failing to spell "We're" correctly alright. :v:

[QUOTE=Miskav;33591263]You're #1 at failing to spell "We're" correctly alright. :v:[/QUOTE] Congratulations, you found the joke.

[QUOTE=Zero-Point;33588668]Washington doesn't give a fuck, the last I heard all Obama had to say about this whole ordeal was "people are understandably upset".[/QUOTE] I think Obama is biding his time with the movement. He doesn't want to outright support the movement, because that might hurt his election chances(most Occupy Supporters are going to vote Obama anyways, since they wouldn't want a Republican). However, if the movement become ultimately successful, he will probably try and jump on as a champion of reform.

there is a reason this shit is happening at the occupy protests. Police make mistakes like ANY other person, and they do it often. It is just not heard about publicly on this scale. They are also dealing with some people that instigate fights (some people are paid to throw a bottle/rile people up) and they have NO idea how to handle things. Not saying it's right, but it happens. also, most of those protests were on land that was illegal to group on, but people turned a blind eye for the sake of them getting heard. When things began to go downhill and they basically became tent villages/super ghettos, the police intervened.

[QUOTE=yawmwen;33592874]I think Obama is biding his time with the movement. He doesn't want to outright support the movement, because that might hurt his election chances(most Occupy Supporters are going to vote Obama anyways, since they wouldn't want a Republican). However, if the movement become ultimately successful, he will probably try and jump on as a champion of reform.[/QUOTE] Politics at their finest. Fuck addressing the reasons these people are upset, he's gotta worry about getting re-elected so he can continue to not really change anything due to the Republican brick wall in his way!

FYI the UN HQ is not in the US jurisdiction. IF the US cops attack some Occupy protest at the building they would violate international law.

The US does not even respect the amendments, why should it care about human rights?