Today’s update of human rights events around the world.

SRI LANKA: Civilians die in Sri Lanka shelling

At least 54 Sri Lankan civilians have been killed by shelling in the so-called safe zone in the north of the country, officials say. al Jazeera

IRAQ: Children killed in Baghdad blast

At least 16 people have been killed and 35 others wounded in a car bomb at a crowded market in Baghdad, police say. al Jazeera

UK: Investigate torture claims

British police are to investigate whether the country’s intelligence agency was complicit in the alleged torture of a former Guantanamo detainee. al Jazeera

ISRAEL: The Testimony from Gaza

The soldier had served as a squad commander during the Israeli army’s invasion of the Gaza Strip last winter. His unit was assigned to advance into Gaza City. His initial orders, he recalled, were that after an armored vehicle broke down the door of a building, his men were to enter, spraying fire: “I call it murdering … going up one floor after another, and anyone we spot, shoot him.” The word from his higher-ups was that anyone who hadn’t fled the neighborhood could be assumed to be a terrorist. The orders fit a pattern: In Gaza, “as you know, they used lots and lots of force and killed lots and lots of people on the way so that we wouldn’t be hurt,” he said. American Prospect

2009 proxy season is fast approaching and it promises to be a doozy. Not since the Great Depression have we seen such a systematic failure of the capital markets and such widespread corporate failure at all levels. Investors are learning the harsh lessons of risk as they review their investment portfolios and 401k statements. As shareholder proxies arrive in the mail in the coming weeks, it will be interesting to see how shareholders respond to corporate management requests for their support on a range of issues up for votes.

Rumors are flying that a number of institutional investors are launching “Vote No” campaigns at several financial institutions. The targets for these campaigns against directors at these companies are obvious to anyone not in a coma for the last six months: Citigroup, Bank of America, AIG and so on.

For readers unfamiliar with what a “Vote No” campaign is, let me enlighten you.

A “Vote No” campaign is a call from a shareholder or group of shareholders in a company to vote no for some or all of the directors standing for election at a public company. Such a vote is symbolic in many ways since the company is under no obligation to remove a director if her or she receives a majority of no votes cast against him or her. However, the symbolism is significant in that it reflects a dramatic vote of no confidence in the directors slated for a vote no campaign.

Take for example the slate of directors at Citigroup up for a vote this year. Titans of industry, these directors oversaw a disaster inflicted on not only shareholders at Citi but at their own companies and institutions as well. The larger impact of their failure to manage Citi managers is all too obvious.

So who are the directors at Citibank? Here is the list:

C. Michael Armstrong
Chairman, Board of Trustees
Johns Hopkins Medicine, Health Systems and Hospital

Alain J.P. Belda
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Alcoa Inc.

John M. Deutch
Institute Professor
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Jerry A. Grundhofer
Chairman Emeritus
U.S. Bancorp

Andrew N. Liveris
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
The Dow Chemical Company

Anne M. Mulcahy
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Xerox Corporation

Michael E. O’Neill
Former Chairman and CEO
Bank of Hawaii Corporation

Vikram S. Pandit
Chief Executive Officer
Citigroup Inc.

Richard D. Parsons
Chairman
Citigroup Inc.

Lawrence R. Ricciardi
Senior Vice President and Advisor to the Chairman, Retired
IBM Corporation

Dr. Judith Rodin
President
Rockefeller Foundation

Robert L. Ryan
Chief Financial Officer, Retired
Medtronic Inc.

Anthony M. Santomero
Former President
Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

William S. Thompson, Jr.
Chief Executive Officer, Retired
Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO)

For those of this exclusive club who still hold day jobs, their employers should initiate steps to fire them immediately. For instance, if a janitor at Xerox Corporation been as negligent as Anne Mulcahey, Xerox’s CEO, he would have been escorted from the building and directly into the back seat of a police cruiser.

Shareholders at Citi and other institutions responsible for the greed and shortsighted profiteering have a choice when they vote their proxies. Whether they take the time to send a message to management remains to be seen.

For a complete rundown on the directors at Citigroup, go to the SEC Edgar database located here.

“Our system failed in fundamental ways. To address this will require comprehensive reform. Not modest repairs at the margin, but new rules of the game.”

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner

Today’s update of human rights events around the world.

BANGLADESH: Investigate Torture Allegations

The government of Bangladesh should take urgent steps to ensure that those detained in connection with the massacre of 74 people at the Dhaka headquarters of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), the country’s paramilitary border guards, on February 25, 2009, are not subjected to retribution, including extrajudicial killings, torture, and other mistreatment, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch

U.S.: Tens of Thousands Languish in Immigration Detention Without Hearings or Bond

Tens of thousands of people languish in U.S. immigration detention facilities every year – including a number of U.S. citizens – without receiving a hearing to determine whether their detention is warranted, Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) said in a report released today. The report, Jailed Without Justice: Immigration Detention in the USA, shows that, in just over a decade, the number of immigrants in detention each day has tripled from 10,000 in 1996 to more than 30,000 in 2008. Numbers are likely to increase in 2009. A majority of the detainees have extreme difficulty retaining a lawyer or help navigating the complex legal process. In some cases, individuals become so desperate that they agree to deportation even if their circumstances don’t warrant it. Common Dreams

ZIMBABWE: Mugabe refuses to swear in Roy Bennett

There have been many occasions through the long negotiating process where Zimbabweans, watching a particularly outrageous demand crop up, have wondered ‘will they, or won’t they’? Will the MDC compromise/capitulate/cave in – or will they stand their ground? This is Zimbabwe

GAZA: Witness accounts and additional analysis of IDF use of white phosphorus

Human Rights Watch found that in Gaza the IDF used white phosphorus in at least three ways. First, on at least three occasions, Israeli forces air-burst white phosphorus in densely populated areas. On January 15, for example, the IDF air-burst white phosphorus over homes and apartment buildings in the crowded Gaza City neighborhood of Tel al-Hawa, where civilians were living or taking shelter, killing at least four members of one family. White phosphorous shells hit a hospital the same day. Human Rights Watch