Abuse

Investigators in North Korea have released a report detailing the lives of "wretched" American citizens and calling the U.S. the "worst human rights abuser" just two months after a U.N. council slammed the Hermit Kingdom for "crimes against humanity"

Two months after the U.N. Human Rights Council excoriated North Korea for “crimes against humanity”, the reclusive kingdom has released its own analysis of the “serious human rights situation in the U.S.”

According to the report, the U.S. is the world’s “worst human rights abuser,” with its citizens trapped in a “living hell.” The report paints a dystopian nightmare of soaring crime rates, enabled by lax gun control laws and rising unemployment, abetted by a rapacious ruling class, and racism spreading under a mysterious law identified as the “citizenship act.”

And as his administration heaps abuses on its people, President Obama, the report finds, “indulges himself in luxury almost every day, squandering hundred millions of dollars on his foreign trip in disregard of his people’s wretched life.”

The “analysis” was published on a North Korean newswire last week. The U.N.’s Human Rights Council has yet to weigh in.

In a book by the female Robertsons, the reality show's stars don't shy away from serious topics

Duck Dynasty is best known for its male stars — the Robertson men who make those famous duck calls — but the women of the show are speaking out in a new book: The Women of Duck Commander: Surprising Insights from the Women Behind the Beards About What Makes This Family Work, out April 1.

The book, written by Kay, Korie, Missy, Jessica and Lisa Robertson, is heavy on parenting and relationship tips aimed at the fans who often ask them how their big TV-friendly family came to be. They don’t shy away from the dark stuff — marital problems and alcohol abuse, namely — but the biggest and darkest reveal comes in a chapter written by Lisa, Alan’s wife, who joined the show in its fourth season. In it, she describes being sexually abused by a relative when she was a child:

As a little girl, I had an extended family member who had major drug and alcohol problems. Unfortunately, that person lived with my grandparents, so I had to see him often. Because I spent so much time at my grandparents’ house, I was easy prey for him. My earliest memory of being molested was at the age of seven when he started to do things to me, things that made me feel bad and dirty.

Robertson never told her parents, until much later when she had her own children. The abuse continued until she was a teenager, when she threatened that she would tell her father and he would kill her abuser. She writes that she believes the trauma of her abuse led her to think that her “purpose in life was to please men,” contributing to her straying from her marriage. Eventually, as religion played more of a role in her life, she says she was able to heal herself and her marriage.

So why reveal such a personal matter in a chapter in the middle of book that’s also about cooking and Sunday school, in a context where readers probably expect hijinks about hunting?

Robertson explains that she did it because she’s aware that “what happened to me happens to many, many people” and that she wanted to show those people that she was able to recover. Though her own personal method of recovery, through religion, may not work for everyone, she gets her message across:

…I want all abuse survivors to know they have hope. They can have hope for complete healing, hope for great relationships, and hope for a wonderful life, free from the lingering effects of the trauma they have suffered.

 

Officers to learn how to spot hate crimes and build trust with a community that is disproportionately at risk of abuse

The Justice Department has launched a program to train local police departments to better respond to transgender people, who disproportionately suffer from violence and abuse.

Launched Thursday, the initiative will help officers to identify hate crimes and foster trust within the transgender population. Law enforcement officials say many in the community are often reluctant to report such crimes, reports Associated Press.

“It’s clear that such a training is as necessary as it is overdue,” says Associate Attorney-General Tony West. “Because too often, in too many places, we know that transgender victims are discouraged from reporting hate crimes and hate violence due to their past negative interactions with and perceptions of law enforcement.”

[AP]

Those playing both basketball and football are most likely to abuse their partners, a new study finds

A new study claims to show a link between sporting aggression and relationship abuse, finding that the likelihood of a teenage boy ill-treating his girlfriend is about twice as high if he plays football or basketball.

Inspired by the apparent correlation between violent sports and dating abuse among college athletes, the study examined data from 1,648 male students in relationships from 16 high schools in California.

Those playing sports such as football and basketball were more likely to have abused their partners either physically, sexually or psychologically than those who didn’t play sports, or those who were wrestlers, swimmers or tennis players.

Teens who only played football were about 50% more likely to have abused their partner, according to study, which was conducted by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.

[Reuters]

Agent suspected of kidnapping and assaulting three women

A border patrol agent who was discovered dead in his home in south Texas this week may have responsible for kidnapping and assaulting three women who had entered the U.S. illegally.

According to the F.B.I. investigators, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents came across an unidentified female on Wednesday who claimed she and two other women had been abducted and assaulted by a man.

Following the incident, authorities encountered a second woman who was also injured, leading the investigation to a house in Mission, Texas, belonging to a border patrol official. The agent, who was identified as Esteban Manzanares, was dead when authorities arrived, while a third woman was discovered at his home.

“We believe he is the person responsible for the kidnappings and the assault of all three of them,” said Michelle Lee, an FBI spokeswoman in San Antonio, according to the Associated Press.

Customs and Border Protection is reportedly in full cooperation with the F.B.I. as the investigation continues.

[AP]

College is the worst

General rule: Don’t make your dog do a keg stand. Ever. Also: don’t make your dog do a keg stand, take a picture of it, and then post it on the internet, unless you want to a) get called an amoral animal abuser and b) get arrested.

Two students at the State University of New York at Brockport were arrested after an image of a black lab being held upside down over a keg — nozzle positioned at the opening of the pup’s mouth — went viral. (You can click here to see the offensive photo, if you must.)

Nursing student Robert Yates, 20, took and then tweeted the photo, which led to his arrest on charges of torturing/injuring an animal. Shane Oliver, 20, was photographed holding up May the dog’s hind legs. He was arrested with the same charges. They’re both scheduled to appear in court April 2.

Some people were horrified:

To the brockport students who made their dog do a keg stand, you're both low life scum—
Cali Newman (@CALIfornia2397) March 10, 2014

Some defended the culprits:

@BosseBendtsen it was a joke. I know the puppy and the owner….they don't abuse him. They didn't actually give the dog beer.—
Allyson Delaney (@allyson_delaney) March 10, 2014

And others seriously missed the point:

.@FitzOnTheAir I see your Dog Doing a Keg Stand and raise you a Rabbit Hitting a Bong – your move… http://t.co/cUZVXHiawp—
Crowley (@ChurchofCrowley) March 10, 2014

Luckily Mya, whose owner wasn’t at home at the time of the incident, is safe and sound:

Animal Control in Brockport says Maya doing well, photo shows dog held up to drink from keg
bit.ly/1fiAWIS http://t.co/nu2TTOTDxE—
TWC News Rochester (@TWCNewsROC) March 10, 2014

The 'Blue Jasmine' stars react to claims director sexually abused adopted daughter Dylan Farrow

The stars of Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine have responded to the open letter penned by the director’s adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, in which she details claims that Allen sexually assaulted her when she was 7 years old.

In one of the letter’s more powerful moments, Farrow asks several actors who’ve worked with and supported Allen about how they would respond if the abuse had personally affected them: “What if it had been your child, Cate Blanchett? Louis CK? Alec Baldwin? What if it had been you, Emma Stone? Or you, Scarlett Johansson? You knew me when I was a little girl, Diane Keaton. Have you forgotten me?”

Now, two of those actors have acknowledged the letter. At the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Saturday, journalist Jeffrey Wells asked Blanchett if she had any response to the letter. Blanchett, who has been nominated for an Academy Award her role in Blue Jasmine, simply commented, “It’s obviously been a long and painful situation for the family and I hope they find some sort of resolution and peace.”

As for Baldwin, he had a somewhat harsher response to the growing controversy. “What the f&@% is wrong w u that u think we all need to b commenting on this family’s personal struggle?” he tweeted Sunday. “So you know who’s guilty? Who’s lying? You, personally, know that?” he continued, adding: “You are mistaken if you think there is a place for me, or any outsider, in this family’s issue.” He later deleted his responses.

Allen, who has always denied claims of sexual abuse, responded, via lawyers, by saying that he was not responsible for “Dylan’s distress.”
[People]

The man who advised NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden calls it a clear case

Sundays are the days that Hong Kong’s domestic workers become most visible, as they leave their employers’ apartments to gather together in their thousands on overpasses and sidewalks, enjoying a day off. On Jan. 19, however, the normally jovial atmosphere was made more somber as around 2,000 domestic workers demonstrated for better conditions and legal safeguards.

“We are workers, we are not slaves,” they chanted, wearing headbands that read “Justice for Erwiana.”

The case of Erwiana Sulistyaningsih — an Indonesian maid allegedly abused by her Hong Kong employer — came to light more than a week ago and has shocked many with its brutality. The employer was arrested Monday attempting to flee the city.

Many of Erwiana’s peers are now calling for better legal safeguards like scrapping a law that requires maids to live with their employers — a requirement seen as making domestic workers vulnerable to overwork as well as sexual and physical abuse.

Indonesian domestic workers would also like to see the ending of a recruitment system that requires them — unlike their Filipina counterparts — to find employment only through an agency. That system, they say, exposes them to unscrupulous middlemen who levy exorbitant charges and insist that maids stay with abusive employers until the women have worked off their debts.

Sunday’s march was organized by an alliance of advocates for migrant workers’ rights, who have since launched the initiative HK Helpers Campaign. Khasmira, a 32-year-old domestic worker on the march, says Erwiana’s case has unsettled her. “It’s scary, because next time it could be one of us,” she says.

Local residents also took part in the demonstration. “I’m here to show my solidarity, support and outrage,” said 29-year-old Hongkonger Billy Leung as the protest reached the city’s main government offices. “I grew up with a domestic helper doing the cooking and taking me to school, we had a close connection. I’m shocked and sad to see what happened to Erwiana, but it’s only the tip of the iceberg.”

(MORE: Beaten and Exploited, Indonesian Maids Are Hong Kong’s ‘Modern-Day Slaves’)

Erwiana has declared that she will take legal action against her former employer. Rights lawyer Robert Tibbo, who advised National Security Agency whistle-blower Edward Snowden when he briefly holed up in town after fleeing the U.S., believes Erwiana also has grounds for suing the government for failing to provide her with proper protection.

“There is enough evidence out there to show that helpers are in a vulnerable position and that there is ongoing abuse,” Tibbo tells TIME. “The most telling and shocking issue is that Erwiana went through the immigrations channel at the airport without being properly asked what had happened to her. It was quite clear that she had been tortured, in which case government staff have a duty to assist her.”

Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, the Secretary for Labor and Welfare, says that the Hong Kong government is very concerned about Erwiana’s case, and that two police officers have been sent to Indonesia on Monday to interview her.

“We will certainly step up regulation,” he stated in a press release. “We will certainly step up enforcement action and, particularly, inspection of employment agencies.”

(MORE: Hong Kong Employer May Have Tortured Second Maid)

Although it is more extreme than most, the past few days have shown that Erwiana’s case is far from isolated. Two more maids have testified of similar abuse at the hands of the very same employer, the latest allegations presented in a front-page story in the local newspaper the Standard on Monday.

Commentators and netizens in Indonesia have lamented the plight of workers abroad and called for action. “Future employers of Indonesian migrant workers have to be psychologically tested first,” said one Twitter user:

Para calon pemakai jasa tkw sepertinya harus di psikotest dulu "@IwanPiliang: Opini: TKW Erwiana Tumbal Devisa kom.ps/AFeMAu "—
dharma j (@dharmajauhardin) January 15, 2014

In an op-ed for Kompasiana.com, Iwan Piliang called female Indonesian migrant workers “foreign-exchange sacrificial lambs,” referring to the $7.4 billion in remittances they sent home in 2013. The money is tempting. A shop assistant can earn many times her salary by working as a maid in Hong Kong, where almost a third of the 512,000 Indonesians working overseas are found. So long as that is the case, the risk of abuse will continue.

— With reporting by Yenni Kwok / Hong Kong