SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico Legislature voted Friday to repeal the death penalty and replace it with a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The state Senate voted 24-18 for the repeal bill, sending it to Gov. Bill Richardson for his signature.

Richardson has opposed repeal in the past but now says he would consider signing it.

The vote also was hailed by Amnesty International USA, with executive director Larry Cox calling New Mexico “a trailblazer and a beacon of hope for everyone who believes in human rights and justice.”

On the Net:

• New Mexico Legislature: http://www.nmlegis.gov

Clinton defends stance on human rights

WASHINGTON (CNN) — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton defended the Obama administration’s commitment to human rights, calling their promotion “an essential aspect of American global foreign policy.”

“It has been a core belief of ours that every nation must not only live by, but help shape global rules that will determine whether people enjoy the right to live freely and participate to the fullest in their societies,” she said after a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, adding the United States itself “must continually strive to live up to our own ideals.”

Both of them discussed China’s human rights record and situation in Tibet on the 50th anniversary of Tibet’s national uprising.

They also talked about the global financial crisis and laid the groundwork for the first meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao next month at the G-20 economic summit in London. Yang also met with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to discuss preparations for the summit.

“The United States and China have a joint responsibility to help ensure that the summit yields tangible progress and concrete action steps toward a coordinated global response to stabilize the world’s economy and to begin a recovery,” Clinton said.

Clinton also said she and Yang agreed on the importance of reducing tensions and avoiding a repeat incident of the confrontation last weekend between Chinese and U.S. vessels in the South China Sea. Despite sticking to their respective versions of the confrontation, the two agreed not to let the incident have “consequences that are unforeseen.”

Clinton took her maiden voyage abroad as secretary of state to Asia last month, where she was criticized for a lower-key approach that seemed to downplay the importance of human rights in the overall relationship with China.

“Our pressing on those issues can’t interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis, and the security crisis,” she told reporters traveling with her to Asia, adding, “It is essential that the United States and China have a positive, cooperative relationship.”

But the State Department annual human rights report issued last month was sharply critical of China’s human rights record, saying the government’s record “remained poor and worsened in some areas,” including severe repression in Tibet.

Human rights advocates blasted Clinton for not being more vocal on the issue. A Washington Post editorial warned that Clinton “continues to devalue and undermine the U.S. diplomatic tradition of human rights advocacy” around the world.

In the past, Clinton has been an outspoken, staunch critic of China’s human rights stance. But officials have said privately that a new approach to dealing with China’s human rights record, including less public criticism and more private discussions, may prove more productive in changing Chinese behavior.

Clinton said Wednesday she wanted to “create a platform for actually seeing results from our human rights engagement.”

“We’re going to look for ways where we can be effective, where we can actually produce outcomes that will matter in the lives of people who are struggling for their rights to be full participants in their societies,” she said.

On March 2, 2009, Amnesty International’s Western Regional Office and members of San Francisco Group 30 attended ceremonies at the State Capitol in Sacramento, CA, where State Assemblyman Blakeslee initiated a resolution that would designate in perpituity March 10th as Tibet Awareness Day in the State of California.

The resolution will need to pass both the State Senate and State Assembly and be signed by the Governor before it becomes enacted as law.

Amnesty International attended to show its support for Human Rights awareness in Tibet.

On March 7, 2009, the Western Regional Office in San Francisco moved to their new business address.

They can be contacted at:

350 Sansome Street

Suite 215

San Francisco, California 94104

415-288-1800

US to boycott UN racism conference

By MATTHEW LEE and EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writers

Saturday, February 28, 2009
(02-28) 06:37 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) –

The Obama administration said Friday that the United States will boycott an upcoming U.N. conference on racism unless its final document is changed to drop all references to Israel and the defamation of religion.

At the same time, it said the U.S. would participate as an observer in meetings of the U.N. Human Rights Council, a body that was shunned by the Bush administration for anti-Israel statements and failing to act on abuses in Sudan and other states.

The racism conference is a follow-up to the contentious 2001 meeting in the South African city of Durban that was dominated by clashes over the Middle East and the legacy of slavery.

The U.S. and Israel walked out midway through that meeting over a draft resolution that singled out Israel for criticism and likened Zionism — the movement to establish and maintain a Jewish state — to racism.

Israel and Canada had already announced they would will boycott the next World Conference Against Racism in Geneva from April 20-25, known as Durban II, but the Obama administration decided it wanted to assess the negotiations before making a decision on U.S. participation.

Last week, the State Department sent a team to Geneva to attend preparatory meetings for the conference but on Friday it said the closing statement under consideration mirrored the 2001 draft and was was unacceptable.

“Sadly … the document being negotiated has gone from bad to worse, and the current text of the draft outcome document is not salvageable,” spokesman Robert Wood said in a statement.

“As a result, the United States will not engage in further negotiations on this text, nor will we participate in a conference based on this text,” he said.

The United States will not take part in the conference unless its final statement does not single out any one country or conflict for criticism nor embrace the draft’s stance on the condemnation or take up the issue of reparations for slavery, Wood said.

“We would be prepared to re-engage if a document that meets these criteria becomes the basis for deliberations,” he said.

Israel, which was deeply concerned when the administration sent a delegation to the preparatory meeting, lobbied hard for the U.S. to stay away from the conference and pro-Israel groups hailed the decision.

“President Obama’s decision not to send U.S. representation to the April event is the right thing to do and underscores America’s unstinting commitment to combating intolerance and racism in all its forms and in all settings,” the American Israel Public Affairs Committee said.

“Its a clear signal to the international community that this administration refuses to validate the hijacking of human rights by regimes led by Libya and Iran,” said the Simon Wiesenthal Center, referring to countries that are supporting the draft statement.

U.S. officials said they are pressing European nations to boycott the conference unless there are revisions to the final statement. The Netherlands and France have already expressed concern about the contents.

Howard Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he hoped the U.S, position “will galvanize like-minded countries and those who have been sitting on the sidelines to end this mindless march toward an outcome that serves none of the victims of racism, xenophobia and intolerance.”

Although it announced the boycott of the Durban II conference, the State Department also said it would attend, as an observer, meetings of the U.N. Human Rights Council that the United States had previously stayed away from of criticism of Israel it said was one-sided.

Despite those concerns, Wood said the Obama administration believes that “it furthers our interests and will do more (to) advance human rights if we are part of the conversation and present at the councils proceedings.”

“These times demand seriousness and candor, and we pledge to closely work with our partners in the international community to avoid politicization and to achieve our shared goals,” he said.

The Obama administration had declined to speak during the council’s review earlier this month of the human rights records of China, Russia and other countries the United States has previously criticized for abuses.

___

Lederer contributed to this report from the United Nations and Associated Press writer Frank Jordans contributed from Geneva.

This is interesting in light of our work for the Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer and her family.

———————————————————————–
4. Olympic torch arrives in China’s Muslim northwest
———————————————————————–
Radio Taiwan International (RTI)
June 19, 2008

The Beijing Olympic torch has paraded through a key military post in
China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang. Xinjiang is largely
populated by ethnic Uighurs, a Muslim minority group.

The relay on Thursday marked the final day that the torch passed
through Xinjiang. The torch’s travels through Xinjiang and the
Tibetan regions of China are considered the most sensitive legs
because of simmering discontent among ethnic groups.

According to the Germany-based World Uighur Congress, an exile group
that advocates an independent East Turkestan in Xinjiang, China
stations up to 2.5 million soldiers there who largely act as a colonial force.

__._,_.___

Prisoner designs enter fashion world

* Story Highlights
* Prison inmates design clothes for new shop in German capital
* Portion of profits go to prisoner rights organizations
* Clothes include tag include prisoner’s name and sentence
* Products include design by inmate on death row in Texas, U.S.

By CNN’s Frederik Pleitgen

A new company in Germany is trying to break into the fashion business selling stylish clothes designed and produced by prison inmates.

The company Haeftling, which in English means inmate, has just opened its first store in Berlin. “We want to have basic, durable, timeless, beautiful clothes,” said Stephan Bohle, one of the company founders.

Many of the clothes, cooking aprons and even stainless steel food trays offered in the Berlin store were either designed or manufactured in jails, but not just German ones.

One design shows a female comic figure that was drawn by a man sitting on death row in Texas.

Bohle said part of the proceeds from sales go to organizations that support prisoners’ rights and better conditions for inmates, like Amnesty International.

But in some cases, money goes directly to the inmates that designed certain pieces. “In the case of the female cartoon figure, this man was almost granted a stay from execution because of the design he did for us but in the end unfortunately the appeals court ruled against him,” Bohle said

The clothes offered at the Haeftling shop also tell the story of the inmates that designed individual pieces. A small text inside the item lays out the prisoners story, including the name, where he is in jail and how long the term will be.

Some of the clothes are manufactured at a corrections facility in Halle, near Leipzig, in Eastern Germany.

Prisoners sew cooking aprons in a jail workshop for several hours a day. “It’s wonderful, at least it takes your mind off jail for a little while,” says Mario Hildebrand, who is serving a 20 month term in Halle.

“We can really identify with this label,” he said. “We are the prisoners and without us this label would not be possible, so we do take some pride in making these clothes.”

However, Mario said he would not wear the clothes himself: “Look, I am a prisoner, and I’m really not proud of it. It isn’t something I want to be parading around.”

But others seem to be catching the fever. Bohle said the company wants to start selling in the United States.

“We’ve had people from New York, Chicago and Los Angeles ask about Haeftling,” he said in an interview in the flagship store in Berlin.

Bohle said he hopes socially responsible clothes will also make for a good business for the company.

Find this article at:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/04/17/germany.prison/index.html

© 2008 Cable News Network

Amnesty in the News (China & Executions)

Ngawang Sangdrol, one of Tibet’s most famous political prisoners, arrived in the United States today five months after her parole from Lhasa’s Drapchi prison. At age 26, Sangdrol had already served 11 years in prison. [more...]