Lawyers and local advocacy organisations will gain access to an important tool needed to identify gender bias within legal decisions made in Pacific Island Countries (PICs). The International Centre for Advocates Against Discrimination (ICAAD) released a handbook detailing its methodology in examining sentencing patterns with a view […]
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ICAAD in partnership with The Fiji Women’s Rights Movement (FWRM) organised the first ever train the trainers workshop to raise awareness on combating sexual harassment in the workplace. The training targeted key stakeholders and agencies to strengthen implementation of laws and policies. The 3-day training workshop was […]
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Psychologist and ICAAD Board Member Courtney D. Cogburn focuses her work on how racism contributes to racial inequalities in health. With a team of researchers at Columbia and Stanford University, she is using virtual reality to help people experience the complexities of racism to not only encourage them to empathize, but to more importantly motivate them to think and act differently.
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In December 2016, Nazdeek and ICAAD launched the SMS for Justice program in Delhi to track access to vital services for women and impoverished people in in two communities, Rajiv Ratan Awas Yojana (RRAY) in Baprola and Bhim Nagar in Nangloi. In its first three months of data […]
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The Global Pro Bono Report shows the breadth and depth of ICAAD’s ability to leverage multidisciplinary partnerships to catalyze social impact; helping women, girls, and minorities to achieve equality. Inside the report you’ll find informative comments from our partners, experts in their fields, on our ambitious work […]
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Vision: As societies build walls of separation between communities, ICAAD works to remove each brick to illuminate our common humanity. Mission: The International Center for Advocates Against Discrimination (ICAAD) is an nonprofit organization founded for the charitable purpose of eradicating structural discrimination globally, and to promote human […]
Read more →"But the most controversial tool by far comes after police have made an arrest. Say hello to criminal risk assessment algorithms.
Risk assessment tools are designed to do one thing: take in the details of a defendant’s profile and spit out a recidivism score—a single number estimating the likelihood that he or she will reoffend. A judge then factors that score into a myriad of decisions that can determine what type of rehabilitation services particular defendants should receive, whether they should be held in jail before trial, and how severe their sentences should be. A low score paves the way for a kinder fate. A high score does precisely the opposite."
AI is sending people to jail—and getting it wrong
technologyreview.com
Using historical data to train risk assessment tools could mean that machines are copying the mistakes of the past.The U.S. is in blatant violation of Article 31 of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees: Non-penalization, Detention and Protection.
"Detention of asylum seekers which is applied for [illegitimate] purposes, for example, as part of a policy to deter future asylum seekers, or to dissuade those who have commenced their claims from pursuing them, is contrary to the norms of refugee law.
It should not be used as a punitive or disciplinary measure for illegal entry or presence in the country. Detention should also be avoided for failure to comply with the administrative requirements or other institutional restrictions related residency at reception centers, or refugee camps."
U.S. Border Patrol migrant camp from above | Pictures | Reuters
reuters.com
Migrants are seen outside the U.S. Border Patrol McAllen Station in a makeshift encampment in McAllen, Texas, May 15, 2019. Adults and children slept on the ground and rigged up makeshift awnings withICAAD joins the U.S. Human Rights Network and others calling for UN Member States, including the U.S., to fulfill their obligations to pay their dues. In addition to affecting funding for peacekeeping missions and critical aid provided by the UN, the budget shortfalls will severely curb human rights enforcement.
Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, “told the committees that oversee compliance with 10 core multilateral treaties that they will probably need to cancel hearings set for later this year...Six of the committees likely to be affected oversee adherence to treaties that uphold children’s rights and combat civil and political repression, discrimination against women, torture and racial discrimination.”
See the open letter submitted to all Permanent Missions to the United Nations. icaad.ngo/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Open-NGO-Letter-Funding-for-Treaty-Bodies.pdf
icaad.ngo
"We are in Mad Max territory now; there are no rules," Levitt said. "I think you'll see more legislators in more states [where there is unilateral control] taking up the mantle of extreme partisan aggression against people who disagree with them."
The court's ruling came in two cases. In Maryland, Democrats who controlled the state legislature drew new lines for congressional districts to eliminate one of the state's two GOP seats in the U.S. House of Representatives; and in North Carolina, where Republicans controlled the state legislature, they used the same tactics to isolate and limit Democratic power, and maximize their own.
Levitt emphasized that the issue isn't a partisan one. While Republicans have benefited most from the practice in recent years, that's mostly due to their success capturing statehouses in the 2010 election.
This is emphatically not a specifically Republican problem," Levitt said. "History has shown that both major parties are perfectly willing to rig the electoral rules to benefit their own, and to draw the lines to punish opposing partisans." Justice Elena Kagan...noted in an impassioned dissent: "Of all times to abandon the Court's duty to declare the law, this was not the one. The practices challenged in these cases imperil our system of government. Part of the Court's role in that system is to defend its foundations. None is more important than free and fair elections. With respect but deep sadness, I dissent.""
Supreme Court Rules Partisan Gerrymandering Is Beyond The Reach Of Federal Courts
npr.org
The U.S. Supreme Court says partisan redistricting is a political question, not one that federal courts can weigh in on.Quebec recently passed a discriminatory law similar to the ones in France prohibiting religious garb in public spaces. In this radio interview, ICAAD Advisor Ranjit Singh discusses the impact the law has had in France -- instead of reducing extremism, it has caused it to grow.
It didn't work in France, why will it work here?
iheartradio.ca
The author of an in-depth report on France's law that restricts Religious symbols suggests that we could see more extremism in Quebec.