Alison Davidian, UN Women Country Representative in Afghanistan, briefed journalists in New York on their latest report addressing the plight of women and girls since the de facto authorities returned to power in August 2021. She described this period as “three years’ worth of countless decrees, directives and statements targeting women and girls, stripping them of their fundamental rights and eviscerating their autonomy”. ‘The horrors have not stopped’ Taliban edicts have denied girls from getting an education beyond the sixth grade and banned women from working for non-governmental organization (NGOs). “Three years ago, the world was watching a takeover that…
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The following is the joint statement released by the Secretary of State of the United States and the Foreign Ministers of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, on the second anniversary of the death of Mahsa Zhina Amini. Two years ago today, Mahsa Zhina Amini, a young Kurdish-Iranian woman, was killed while in police custody in Iran. Her death sparked a nationwide protest movement, led by women and girls, which was unwavering in its demand for a better future. We stand with women and girls in Iran, and Iranian human rights defenders, across all segments of society in…
Employer: Teracom Inc., Saline, MichiganInvestigation Findings: A U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation found Teracom Inc. misclassified some workers as independent contractors and paid them a day-rate for all hours worked regardless of overtime, failed to pay overtime and denied two employees paychecks for their final workweeks. The employer also did not maintain complete and accurate timekeeping records as required. These actions violated provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.The division found the employer committed similar violations in 2018, leading the division to assess $44,496 in civil money penalties for repeated and willful FLSA violations. Back wages/damages recovered: $297,137 in…
Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director, highlighted the horrific impact of violence on children and adolescents. “The humanitarian catastrophe unfolding before our eyes is taking a devastating toll on children. Displaced children are in desperate need of a safe and protective environment, and increased support and funding from the international community,” she said. Across the country, an estimated three million children are in need of humanitarian assistance, against a backdrop of years of political turmoil, widespread poverty, rampant disease and multiple disasters. Facing heightened risks Displaced children in Haiti face heightened risks of violence, including sexual assault, exploitation, abuse and family…
Today, U.S. Ambassador to Romania Kathleen Kavalec and Head of the Office of the Prime Minister Mihai Alexandru Ghigiu signed the U.S.-Romania Child Protection Compact (CPC) Partnership, a historic non-binding five-year initiative to prevent child sex trafficking and forced child labor in Romania. Implementation of this jointly developed partnership will strengthen the efforts of the Government of Romania as it works with national stakeholders and civil society organizations in a sustainable, coordinated fashion to address child trafficking. The CPC Partnership signing is the culmination of several months of discussions between representatives of the Government of Romania, the U.S. Department of State’s…
Date of Action: Sept. 12, 2024 Type of Action: Default judgmentCompany/Owners: Todd DierkesDierkes Heating & Air SIMPLE IRA PlanDierkes Heating and Air, L.L.C. d/b/a Dierkes Heating and…
“Today’s report reveals the undeniable truth: progress is achievable, but is not fast enough,” said Sima Bahous, UN Women Executive Director. “Let us unite to continue dismantling the barriers women and girls face and forge a future where gender equality is not just an aspiration but a reality,” she added. The Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs, are an internationally agreed set of targets to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure peace and prosperity for all by 2030. While there are some promising trends towards achieving certain SDGs in the report – including declining poverty, narrowing of gender gaps in education…
In 2025, the Ministry for the Future, a powerful global organization advocating for the rights of the generations to come, convinces bankers and economists to introduce wide-ranging policies that finally reverse the effects of the devastating climate crisis and bring about a fairer, cleaner global economy. If that sounds like science fiction, that’s because it is: this is the plot of Kim Stanley Robinson’s influential novel The Ministry for the Future, which imagines such a body being established as part of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. But maybe it’s not as outlandish as it might seem: this September, at…
Deputy Secretary Kurt Campbell visited Reykjavík today for meetings with Icelandic Foreign Minister Þórdís Kolbrún Reykfjörð Gylfadóttir and members of the Icelandic parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee. Deputy Secretary Campbell and Foreign Minister Gylfadóttir also co-chaired a bilateral dialogue on the Indo-Pacific region. In Deputy Secretary Campbell’s engagements with Foreign Minister Gylfadóttir and Icelandic parliamentarians, they discussed Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine as well as other shared U.S.-Iceland priorities such as our work together in NATO; economic security; protection of critical infrastructure; deepening our bilateral economic and trade relationship; clean energy production; scientific cooperation; and ensuring the Arctic region is…
Employer: Walker White Inc.Employer address: 7402 Fairfield Road, Columbia, SC 29203Investigation findings: A U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation determined that Walker White Inc. – a subcontractor working on a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ construction project at Fort Jackson – wrongly classified apprentices as laborers. In doing so, the employer did not pay the required prevailing wage rates, including the basic hourly rate and fringe benefits, in violation of the Davis-Bacon Act. Investigators also found the employer failed to pay overtime rates of time-and-one-half an employee’s basic rate of pay for hours over 40 in a workweek, a violation…