Event in NYC: Human Rights Watch International Film Festival

HRW's 20th Annual International Film Festival is running through June 25 in New York City at the Walter Reade Theater, 165 West 65th Street, Lincoln Center; (212)875-5601, hrw.org/en/

The New York Times has more information on the films.

Event in DC: Suman, Anti-Trafficking Campaigner from India

From Change.org's End Human Trafficking blog:

Stop Modern Slavery and Free the Slaves are hosting a speaker from India, Suman, who has worked for more than 25 years for the liberation of child laborers, fighting not only for their welfare but their right to a healthy childhood. She is a pioneer in the struggle to end child labor and trafficking in India, tackling all aspects of the issue including: prevention, awareness, intervention, and rehabilitation.

Apart from organizing nationwide campaigns and creating awareness about trafficking at village level, Suman has been a part of many rescue operations of children over the years. However, Suman‘s most ground-breaking work has been in her development of methods of enabling children to recover from slavery, forced separation from families and experiences of violence and torture. Through the care of Suman and the teams she has led, hundreds of children have re-gained their strength, learned the value of education and become able to assert their rights. Her work with these children has shown that recovery is possible.

Join Suman as she speaks to Stop Modern Slavery and supporters of Free the Slaves on Monday, June 22nd at 7 pm at:
Capitol Hill Tower (www.capitolhilltower.com)
1000 New Jersey Ave SE
Party Room

Getting there: Take the GREEN line to the NAVY YARD metro stop. Exit the Dept of Transportation side (NOT the baseball park side). Once you exit the metro, you will see a CVS across the street from you on New Jersey Ave. Turn left out of the metro and walk one block down. You'll see a Courtyard Marriot on your right and a dry cleaners. Capitol Hill Tower is the next door past the dry cleaners--it's on the corner of K St SE and New Jersey Ave SE. The party room is on the first floor just past the elevators.

Please RSVP to Sally Smith (that's where she lives) at sksmith1881@gmail.com if you plan to attend. Feel free to spread the word!

Indian Government Permits British Company to Mine Tribe's Sacred Mountain

The Indian government decided to permit the British company Vedanta Resources to build an open-pit mine on the Dongria Kondh tribe's sacred mountain in Orissa, India. This week, protesters from the indigenous rights group Survival International targeted the Indian High Commission in London.

The Niyamgiri Hills are home to more than 8,000 Dongria Kondh who "lead a self-sufficient life, nurturing the forest-covered region and relying on it for their food, culture, and medicines," writes ActionAid UK, an international development organization. "They also worship the mountain as their god."

"The mine would devastate the ecology of the region and spell the end of the Dongria Kondh's independent way of life, polluting the streams and destroying the forests they rely on," adds Survival International. "Ill health, misery, and destitution already afflict many hundreds of other Kondh people in the area, thanks to the Vedanta [bauxite] refinery at the base of the Niyamgiri hills."

Many people have already lost their homes due to the construction of the refinery and, continues Survival, "the Orissa government's pollution control board has ruled that chemical emissions from the refinery are 'alarming' and 'continuous'."

Survival International has made a ten-minute film called "Mine: story of a sacred mountain" about the situation.

Fast Track Courts for Gujarat Riots

India's Supreme Court has ordered the establishment of five special courts to try cases related to communal riots in the state of Gujarat in 2002.

My post on the Indian elections has some more information.

The Latest on the Elections in India

The third phase of the month-long elections took place on Thursday. This phase included Kashmir and Mumbai so security concerns were high. There were also higher tensions in Gujarat; the Indian Supreme Court just ordered a new investigation into the 2002 communal riots. The Court specifically ordered the investigation of Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi. Modi is a member of the Hindu-nationalist BJP and has been accused in a petition filed by the widow of a murdered Muslim politician. (The Atlantic recently did a feature on Modi.)

From AFP's story:

In Kashmir, all eyes were on the number of voters. A strong turnout would deal a blow to separatist groups who have called for a poll boycott to reinforce opposition to Indian rule in the Muslim-majority region.

"Security is the only issue. It's the only reason people are stepping out to vote, especially in this area. We have seen it, we have felt it and we know all about it," Chintan Sakariya told AFP after voting in south Mumbai.

But national security is not a priority issue everywhere, with the bulk of India's 714 million voters likely to cast their ballots on local issues or according to their caste and religion.

Among other states voting Thursday were parts of impoverished Bihar and populous Uttar Pradesh in the north, Gujarat in the west, the southern rural state of Karnataka, and leftist-dominated West Bengal in the east.

(Photo from BBC News. More pictures from the third phase of the Indian election are available here.)