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	Another setback in the fight against racism in the United States by Minority Rights Group International USA   US blocking of Gay McDougall for UN anti-racism committee is a major setback for the fight against racism, says Minority Rights Group International.   The decision of the government of the United States of America (USA) not to back the candidature of Ms. Gay McDougall for the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) is a setback in the fight against racism in the United States and around the world.   ‘The disappointing news about the failure of the USA to maintain a presence on CERD comes at a time of growing intolerance and hate in society’, says Joshua Castellino, MRG’s Executive Director. ‘It is symptomatic of a government seemingly high on ideology but bereft of ideas on how to tackle the real issues at stake, while generating alternate crises and noise to boost support for itself.’   We at MRG are proud and privileged to work with Ms. McDougall in her other capacity as Chair of our governing Council. By the end of her current term on CERD in December 2019, she will have served two four-year terms as a member of the UN Committee, starting in 1997, as the United States’ first-ever representative, and then elected to serve a second term in 2015. For 6 years between those appointments she served as the UN’s first Independent Expert on Minority Issues. Currently Ms. McDougall serves as Vice Chair of CERD.   Last week, it emerged that the Trump administration had not put forward her or any other candidate’s name to serve as an expert on the treaty body. Ms. McDougall brings a wealth of experience in the difficult task of how to build egalitarian meritocratic societies, and to dismantle structural discrimination that is rife all around the world and prevents a significant proportion of the world’s population from being fully fledged members of their own societies.   It is no accident that Ms. McDougall was called upon by Nelson Mandela when South Africa was seeking to find ways to eliminate the odious apartheid system that held its majority population in subjugation for generations.   CERD is a body of 18 independent experts charged with monitoring the extent to which the undertakings made by States, to make the necessary administrative, legislative and judicial changes necessary to eliminate discrimination, are upheld. These legally binding undertakings are contained in the International Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination opened for signature in 1965, coming into force five decades ago in 1969.   It is worth remembering that the Convention came about as a result of fears caused by the growth of xenophobia and antisemitism in Western states, coupled by the ill-treatment of migrant workers into developed economies from poorer countries.   ‘In losing one of the few African-American human rights activists who has received truly international recognition, it is also a signal of the kind of politics that is only valid at a time of anger and vitriol. The opposite of the need for the hour: for calm, evidence-based approaches to resolving deep societal problems,’ concludes Castellino.   http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CERD/Pages/CERDIndex.aspx http://minorityrights.org/2019/04/17/us-blocking-of-gay-mcdougall-for-un-anti-racism-committee-is-a-major-setback-for-the-fight-against-racism-says-mrg/ Visit the related web page
	Bangladesh publishers, teachers protest latest killing by Reuters, Agence France Presse (AFP), agencies Bangladesh   7 June   Hindu priest hacked killed in Islamist militant attack in Bangladesh. (Reuters)   Islamist militants in Bangladesh hacked an elderly Hindu priest to death on Tuesday, in the latest in a spate of attacks on minority groups in the majority-Muslim country. Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the murder of Ananda Gopal Ganguly.   Investigators said the murder bore the hallmarks of recent attacks by local Islamist extremists, who have carried out 10 other similar killings in as many weeks.   The Government banned more than one person riding pillion on a motorcycle on Monday, a day after the wife of a prominent anti-terror security official was shot dead by three suspected militants on a motorbike. A 60-year-old Christian grocer was also hacked to death on Sunday in an attack claimed by Islamic State.   Since February last year, militant extremists in Bangladesh have killed more than 30 people, including members of religious minorities, liberal bloggers and academics.   Islamic State and Al Qaeda have claimed responsibility for most of the killings, but the Government denies that either group has a presence in Bangladesh. Hindus make up about 9 per cent of Bangladesh''s 160 million population of mainly Sunni Muslims.   7 April 2016   Law Student who criticized radical Islam hacked to death on street.   Three motorcycle-riding assailants killed 28-year-old Nazimuddin Samad a law student critical of radical Islam as he was walking with a friend along a street in Bangladesh''s capital, police said Thursday.   The killing follows a string of similar attacks last year, when at least five secular bloggers and publishers were killed, allegedly by radical Islamists.   Police suspect 28-year-old Nazimuddin Samad was targeted for expressing his liberal views in the Muslim-majority country.   Fellow students and friends of Samad rallied at the state-run Jagannath University, where Samad was studying law and had attended class the evening of the attack.   "This is very sad for us. We are trying whatever we can do to support the family during such difficult time," university proctor Nur Mohammad said.   People also flooded Samad''s Facebook page with messages to their late friend. "Friend, please pardon us. You were, you are, you will be with us," wrote one friend called Rahat Chowdhury.   Many of Samad''s online posts criticized radical Islam violence and promoted secularism.   According to the New York Times, he also seemed fed up with threats, writing: "No one is forcing you to read or look at what I write. So why this violence, this murdering?"   International groups promoting freedom of expression said the ongoing attacks showed the government was failing to protect people.   "We urge the Bangladeshi police and other authorities to do everything in their power to investigate and prosecute this vicious attack on free speech and thought, and halt this terrible pattern of murders," said Karin Deutsch Karlekar of PEN America, a group of 4,400 U.S. writers.   She also called on the U.S. and other countries to provide refuge to writers and secularists being targeted in Bangladesh. Samad''s killing "is a cruel illustration of the costs of inaction," she said.   November 2015   In the wake of recent violence against publishers, writers, bloggers and civil society groups by extremists in Bangladesh, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights today condemned the acts and urged the Government to take “urgent, concerted measures to ensure the protection of all those who are being threatened by extremists operating in the country.”   “At least five Bangladeshi writers and publishers as well as two foreign aid workers have been violently murdered this year in Dhaka and many more attacked and threatened, apparently by groups that believe they have the right to impose their views on others through wanton violence,” Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said in a statement.   According to the High Commissioner’s Office (OHCHR), last Saturday, publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan was hacked to death in his office in Dhaka, and in a separate incident, three people at another publishing house in the city were reportedly wounded.   The UN rights office said that Mr Dipan had published the work of a prominent blogger, Avjit Roy, who himself was hacked to death in February this year.   “There is an urgent need for a concerted response to prevent more killings by promptly bringing the perpetrators to justice, and by taking effective measures to protect writers, publishers and any other people in Bangladesh who are being threatened with violence. The State must not allow extremist groups to take matters into their own hands,” declared Mr. Zeid.   OHCHR reports that three other bloggers were also murdered this year for writing about sensitive social, political and religious issues and added that many others have received threats on social media, where a hit-lists targeting writers are being circulated.   According to OHCHR, this has prompted some of those threatened to flee the country or go into hiding.   “I urge political and religious leaders to consistently and unequivocally condemn this spate of vicious killings and threats against writers and publishers and anyone else who may be targeted by these takfiri groups,” Mr. Zeid said.   Lastly, he also stressed that the Government must ensure that journalists, civil society actors and human rights defenders are able to exercise their rights to freedom of expression and opinion without fear for their safety.   “When people have been explicitly threatened with violence or murder, it is the duty of the State to provide them with effective protection,” the High Commissioner said.   http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=52472#.Vjvbml6pUd8   2 Nov. 2015   Alarmed publishers closed their businesses in Bangladesh Monday, in the third day of protests over the latest gruesome attacks on secular writers and publishers by suspected extremist Islamists.   Hundreds of people, including book-shop owners, took to the streets of Dhaka to protest perceived government inaction over a string of attacks including the machete murder on Saturday of a publisher of secular books.   "This is not an isolated incident. They first started killing authors, then the bloggers and now they''ve targeted the publishers," Mustafa Selim, head of the Bangladesh Creative Publishers Society, told reporters.   Rallies were also held in other cities and towns to demand more protection for publishers, bloggers and writers, some of whom have fled the country or gone into hiding, rally organisers said in a statement.   Fears of Islamist violence have been rising in Bangladesh after four bloggers were murdered this year, also by machete-wielding attackers.   Bangladesh has also been rocked by the recent murders of an Italian aid worker and a Japanese farmer, while Dhaka''s main Shia shrine was bombed last month, killing two people and wounding dozens.   After staging protests on Saturday night and Sunday, activists including hundreds of teachers, writers and students resumed their rallies at Dhaka University, the nation''s main secular bastion.   "The murderers should be caught as soon as possible. There must be an end to this nightmare," publisher Farid Ahmed, who received a death threat in a text message on Sunday, told AFP.   On Saturday, a gang of suspected Islamists armed with machetes and cleavers hacked to death Faisal Arefin Dipan in his publishing office in the capital.   Two secular bloggers and another publisher were also badly injured in a similar and separate attack hours earlier. Visit the related web page
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