Greene County Democrat

Tag: Winnie Byanyima

  • Newswire : U.N. observes ‘zero discrimination day’while anti-gay laws spread across Africa

    African demonstrators for LGBTQ rights

    Mar. 4, 2024 (GIN) – Forced evictions, loss of jobs, increased violence and other human rights abuses are being reported across Africa, worrying U.N. agencies and other watchdog groups around the world.
     
    Since a harsh new bill was passed in Ghana, 12 UN agencies issued an unprecedented joint statement on the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender & intersex people.
     
    “There is an urgent need to remove laws which harm people’s rights and bring in laws which uphold the rights of every person… The recent global push-back against the human rights of LGBTQ people, against sexual and reproductive health and rights, against democracy and against civic space is not only a threat to everyone’s freedom, but a threat to everyone’s health,” declared the founders of Zero Discrimination Day at the United Nations.
     
    March 1, a day of activism was established by UNAIDS a decade ago. But, despite improvements in some societies, attacks on the rights of women and girls, of LGBTQ+ people and of other marginalized communities are increasing.
     
    “Gender equality is still a long way off, but we know that progress is possible,” said the U.N. group. “Only 60 years ago, the majority of women globally could not vote or even have a bank account in their own name.”
     
    Zero Discrimination Day was first celebrated on March 1, 2014, when it was launched by UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé with a major event in Beijing. 
    “Through upholding rights for all, we will be able to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and secure a safer, fairer, kinder, and happier world,” said Winnie Byanyima, formerly executive director of UNAIDS and Oxfam International.
     
    Some 31 countries still criminalize consensual same-sex sexual activity, despite the clear contradiction with established African Union and international human rights standards.
     
    In Uganda, for instance,  the situation has worsened with passage of the draconian Anti-Homosexuality Act in 2023.  One of the harshest of its kind in Africa, the bill still has to be validated by the president before entering into law.
     
    But the legislation is widely supported in Ghana, where Akufo-Addo has said gay marriage will never be allowed while he is in power.
     
    Commonly referred to as the anti-gay bill, it was sponsored by a coalition comprising Christian, Muslim, and Ghanaian traditional leaders.
     
    A human rights coalition known as the Big 18, an umbrella group of lawyers and activists in Ghana, has condemned the bill which imposes a prison sentence of three to five years for the “willful promotion, sponsorship, or support of LGBTQ+ activities”.
     
    “You can’t criminalize a person’s identity and that’s what the bill is doing and it’s absolutely wrong,” said Takyiwaa Manuh, a member of the coalition.
     
    But opposition lawmaker Sam George, the main sponsor of the bill, urged Akufo-Addo to approve it.
     
    “There is nothing that deals with LGBTQ better than this bill that has been passed by parliament. We expect the president to walk his talk and be a man of his words,” George said.
     
    Amnesty International is calling on African states and governments to publicly acknowledge and protect the human rights of all people equally without discrimination. They must also repeal or refrain from efforts to criminalize consensual same-sex conduct, as such legislation cannot comply with international or regional human rights standards and basic principles of human dignity and equality. 
     

  • Newswire: Income inequality fueling backlash and elites across the World are worried

    Winnie Byanyima, Director Oxfam International

         Jan. 28, 2019 (GIN) – The rich are getting richer, businesses are thriving, but it’s hard not to notice that discontent is growing among the expanding poor and middle class and could soon pose a threat to the well-to-do.

     At the exclusive World Economic Forum, an annual event held in Davos, Switzerland, income inequality was the talk among many corporate leaders, and the good jobs being lost to trade and automation.

     “We’re living in a Gilded Age,” said Scott Minerd, chief investment officer of Guggenheim Partners, which manages more than $265 billion in assets. “I think, in America, the aristocrats are out of touch. They don’t understand the issues around the common man.”

     In fact, a new Global Risks Report declares that humanity is “sleepwalking its way to catastrophe” referring to extreme weather, failure to act on climate change, among other threats.

     For the jobless poor, a new buzzword - “upskilling” - was bandied about. Training could help people obtain better jobs in the digital economy, some assert.

     Stephen A. Schwarzman, chief executive of Blackstone, doubled down on the need for digital education which would lessen the inequalities that people have in terms of job opportunities.

     It’s “up to the grown-ups” to make digital upskilling happen in K-12 schools, said Schwarzman, whose net worth is estimated at $13 billion.

     But what most of the elites are uniformly against is a solution to be found in taxing wealth.

     Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Oxfam International, couldn’t disagree more. “We’re in a world where governments do not tax wealth enough, do not tax the rich enough.”

     Billionaire fortunes are spiraling by $2.5 billion daily, according to Oxfam in a new report. The share of wealth held by billionaires increases by $2.5 billion a day, while the share of wealth among the 3.8 billion of the world’s poorest decreases by $500 million a day.

     “Our economy is broken,” said Byanyima, originally from Uganda. “Hundreds of millions live in extreme poverty while huge rewards go to those at the very top.

     Governments are fueling this inequality crisis, she insists. “They are under-taxing corporations and wealthy individuals, while underfunding vital public services like healthcare and education… The human costs are huge, with women and girls suffering the most.”

     Countries cited by Oxfam with the greatest income inequality gap were Nigeria, Brazil, Ghana and Kenya.

     The Forum runs from Jan. 22 to 25. To read the Oxfam briefing paper released this month, visit www.oxfam.org