ACLU Urges UN to Take Action on Solitary Confinement in the United States

ACLU Urges UN to Take Action on Solitary Confinement in the United States February 21, 2011 by Jean Casella and James Ridgeway

The American Civil Liberties Union last week filed a statement with the United Nations’ Human Rights Council, urging it to to “address the widespread violations of the human rights of prisoners in the United States associated with solitary confinement and call for the adoption of appropriate measures to protect their human rights.

The ACLU calls on the Council to urge the United States to take concrete and appropriate measures to end the egregious violations stemming from solitary confinement of prisoners.”

After providing background on the widespread use of solitary confinement in the United States today, the statement includes a concise and well-documented section titled “Harmful Effects of Solitary Confinement.”…:

There is a broad consensus among mental health experts that long-term solitary confinement is psychologically harmful. Indeed, the damaging effects of solitary confinement, even on persons with no prior history of mental illness, have long been well known.  http://solitarywatch.com/2011/02/21/aclu-urges-un-to-take-action-on-solitary-confinement-in-the-united-states/

More than one third of women abused or forced into sex: UN

More than one third of women abused or forced into sex: UN
(AFP) – Oct 12, 2010 UNITED NATIONS — More than a third of all women in the world have been forced into sex, beaten or abused by a partner or family member, a top UN official said Tuesday.

Zou Xiaoqaio, vice-chairwoman of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women said that sexual violence was increasing around the world despite major campaigns by the UN and other bodies….

“At least one every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex or abused in some other way, usually by an intimate partner or family member,” Zou told a press conference at the UN headquarters, quoting a new report by the UN Population Fund. “Women continue to be raped and subject to other forms of sexual violence with impunity all over the world,” she said, highlighting how, in some countries, rape charges against an offender can be dropped if he marries the victim.

“Women and girls are still being sold for sex around the world. Two million girls between the ages of five and 15 are introduced into the commercial sex market each year.”

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hnL-uAoHOHqDmfv44lWonsuapCsw?docId=CNG.565ee48525115af679ae1f1a39cb58f1.6c1
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