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The salience of citizenship and nationality.

In most Middle Eastern countries, a woman can't pass her nationality to her children or spouse like a man can. In many countries around the world, children are relegated stateless because of who their parents are (or aren't). This brief report explores the importance of nationality to full civic participation and human rights. (Rochelle Jones, AWID, 14 April 2006)

http://www.awid.org/go.php?list=analysis&prefix=analysis&item=00311

(Added: Wed Jun 07 2006   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 202)

The Burmese people can't wait much longer

In this article, a Burmese former policial prisoner writes about his country, an 'aborted democracy' that the military regime call Myanmar. Tuberculosis, malaria and AIDS have reached their highest levels ever. The education system is a shambles. Inflation is rampant. To unblock the stalemate over humanitarian aid caused by the regime's pariah status, the only opposition has made overtures to the regime, only to be dismissed as 'terrorists.' The article outlines ways the international community can help. (Ludu Sein Win, International Herald Tribune, 23 May 2006)

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/23/opinion/edludu.php

(Added: Thu May 25 2006   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 194)

All Over Again: Human Rights Abuses and Flawed Electoral Conditions in Zimbabwe's Coming General Elections

In a 59-page report, Human Rights Watch documents how the government and the ruling party ZANU-PF, in the run up to the 2008 elections, have engaged in widespread intimidation of the opposition; have restricted freedom of association and assembly; and have manipulated food and farming equipment distribution to gain political advantage (Human Rights Watch, March 2008).

http://hrw.org/reports/2008/zimbabwe0308/

(Added: Thu Mar 20 2008   Hits: 45)

Assessing the Effectiveness of National Human Rights Institutions [PDF]

National human rights institutions (NHRIs) are now, beyond a doubt, valued as essential partners in the task of protecting and promoting human rights at the national and regional levels. The report presented here is designed to assist NHRIs to measure their own effectiveness. It was prepared through a participatory process involving members of NHRIs and establishes measurement benchmarks and indicators for the compliance of national institutions with the Paris Principles. The report first presents a set of benchmarks as the minimum normative condition that is desirable for a national institution to achieve its objectives. It is followed by a set of indicators, both quantitative and qualitative, to demonstrate progress achieved by the NHRI. These indicators of performance and impact are intended for a NHRI to be able to assess the human rights situation, its own performance and the impact of the institution on the enjoyment of human rights. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, International Council on Human Rights Policy, 2005.

http://www.ichrp.org/paper_files/125_p_01.pdf

(Added: Thu Jan 19 2006   Modified: Fri Jan 20 2006   Hits: 351)

Beyond ethics: biomed research and the poor

Takafira Mduluza says ethics are only part of what makes biomedical research work in poor countries - insight and compensation are as vital. (SciDev.Net).

http://www.scidev.net/dossiers/index.cfm?fuseaction=dossierreaditem&dossier=5&type=3&itemid=590&language=1

(Added: Fri Jul 06 2007   Hits: 91)

Burma's "Saffron Revolution" is not over: Time for the international community to act

The ITUC and the FIDH's new report is based on the findings of a joint international mission to the Thai-Burma border and interviews with participants in last October's protest movement and victims of its repression by the military, the 50-page report includes detailed policy proposals and recommendations to the international community (International Federation for Human Rights, December 2007).

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/burmamyanmar/2007/1207fidh.pdf

(Added: Thu Dec 20 2007   Hits: 36)

Cartoons As Weapons Of Mass Provocation

Is the global row over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad the beginning of a "clash of civilizations"? Author and scholar Paul Tiyambe Zeleza argues not, locating the controversy firmly in the realm of politics. In this context, Muslims are challenged to find ways of defending their faith in a way that advances human freedom and decency. Those in the West, he argues, must not support aggression that hides behind freedom of speech. (Pambazuka News, 2006-02-16)

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/32049

(Added: Mon May 15 2006   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 282)

Chavez changes channels

Has Mr. Chavez made a significant miscalculation, which could affect his apparently firm grip on power? RCTV, the countries oldest private broadcasting station, was closed down just before midnight on Sunday May 27th after President Hugo Chavez decided not to renew the concession, which expired on Sunday. President Hugo Chavez decreed last December that there would be no more television concessions for what he calls "fascists" and "coup plotters" (The Economist, 30 May 2007).

http://www.economist.com/world/la/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9248319

(Added: Wed May 30 2007   Hits: 54)

Christians In Afghanistan: A Community Of Faith And Fear

Afghan converts to Christianity lead dangerous lives and must keep their faith secret to avoid persecution by police, Islamists or even their own neighbors. Members of this secret society have to constantly keep looking over their shoulders. Afghanistan's 2004 constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion, is of little use to Christians. (Matthias Gebauer, 2006)

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,408781,00.html

(Added: Mon May 15 2006   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 174)

Corruption Honduras: A Murky Transparency Law

The "law on transparency and access to public information" in force in Honduras since January is in violation of international conventions on freedom of expression and against corruption, and creates loopholes for preventing the declassification of "reserved" or restricted information. (Inter Press Service News Agency, Feb 22 2007)

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36682

(Added: Tue Feb 27 2007   Hits: 93)

Dividing a society

Liberalism can only flourish when socio-politics becomes free of top-down constraints. Let the society breathe naturally and both politics and culture will become more normal. (Dr Ayesha Siddiqa, Daily Times, 6 August 2007).

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C08%5C06%5Cstory_6-8-2007_pg3_5

(Added: Thu Aug 09 2007   Hits: 75)

Freedom of Speech? Poet Silenced!

A teacher is suspended and students interrogated after an anti-war poem is read at a US high school - a sobering look at the state of free speech. (Green Left Weekly, 14/4/2003)

http://scarletjewels.com/newslog2.php/__show_article/_a000148-000079.htm

(Added: Wed Nov 28 2007   Hits: 42)

Front Line Indonesia: Murders Death Threat and Other Forms of Intimidation of Human Rights Defenders, 1998-2002 (PDF)

Front Line & IMPARSIAL: The Indonesian Human Rights Watch. This report offers a broad outline of the political and historical context of human rights violations and the work of human rights defenders. Its primary focus rests on the cases of abuse, arbitrary arrest, torture, disappearance, murder and other forms of intimidation perpetrated against human rights defenders in Indonesia. The report is not exhaustive but gives a picture of a pattern of intimidation of human rights defenders. Three regions have been singled out for special consideration: the capital, Jakarta, in the lead up to and following the 21 May 1998 resignation of president Soeharto as well as Aceh and West Papua, which are home to Indonesia s longest and bloodiest separatist movements. Just as human rights violations have escalated in these regions, so too have crimes against human rights defenders.

http://www.xs4all.nl/%7Eendi/imparsial/Frontline.pdf

(Added: Fri Feb 04 2005   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 296)

In remembrance of Rafael Markus Bangit: another call to STOP EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS!

Assasinations of activists in the Philippines persist under the Arroyo regime. 'Cordillera Peoples Alliance' calls upon citizens of other countries to assist in their struggle against the atrocities of the Arroyo regime (Cordillera Peoples Alliance, 8 June 2007).

http://www.cpaphils.org/index-remembering%20ka%20makoy.html

(Added: Thu Jun 07 2007   Hits: 267)

Irrepressible.Info

Irrepressible Adj. 1) Impossible to repress or control. Chat rooms monitored. Blogs deleted. Websites blocked. Search engines restricted. People imprisoned for simply posting and sharing information. The Internet is a new frontier in the struggle for human rights. Governments - with the help of some of the biggest IT companies in the world - are cracking down on freedom of expression. Amnesty International, with the support of The Observer, is launching a campaign to show that online or offline the human voice and human rights are impossible to repress.

http://irrepressible.info/

(Added: Wed Jun 07 2006   Modified: Wed Jun 21 2006   Hits: 266)

Jubilee South Statement on Nepal's Political Crisis

Posted on February 10 2005. Ironically, the King has been wielding iron-fist tactics at the same time that he is laying claims to working for peace with the Maoist insurgency. Recently, last February 1, in a shameless power grab, the King summarily dismissed government and two days later, imposed total censorship for a six-month period. Meanwhile, soldiers reportedly mill around in media centers, monitoring information released to the public. The airport and all communications have been shut down. Political leaders have been arrested and imprisoned; others have gone into hiding, fearing for their security. That "establishing peace" should be the rationalization for political repression makes these moves of Gyanendra's royal regime all the more reprehensible.

http://www.jubileesouth.org/news/EEplpEAZEZjOoVvQWS.shtml

(Added: Mon Feb 21 2005   Modified: Wed Dec 07 2005   Hits: 169)

Move to Arrest Journalist Sparks Backlash in China

The arrest of a journalist who criticised a local member of government has sparked outrage in Beijing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/08/AR2008010802168.html

(Added: Thu Jan 10 2008   Hits: 31)

Muzzling the Media: The Return of Censorship in the Commonwealth of Independent States

Freedom House conducted an analysis on the state of press freedom in the former Soviet Union since the end of the cold war. This report reveals that the media landscape across most of today's Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in some aspects differs from that of the Soviet era but in important ways is imposing a no less repressive news media environment (Freedom House, July 2007).

http://www.freedomhouse.org/uploads/special_report/54.pdf

(Added: Thu Nov 01 2007   Hits: 54)

Never a Prisoner

Around the globe, the struggle between the pen and the sword continues. Marking the occasion of World Press Freedom Day (May 3), this piece explains the motivations and tribulations of one journalist, Cameroon's Pius Njawe, who has been arrested 126 times and jailed thrice in his 30 year career. He currently writes a bi-weekly column from behind bars, but considers his captors the true prisoners. (Pius Njawe, World Association of Prisoners, 3 May 2006)

http://www.wan-press.org/3may/2006/articles.php?id=206&lang=en

(Added: Thu May 04 2006   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 153)

New controls on media in Pakistan

President Pervez Musharraf has signed into immediate effect measures to increase control over the media (BBC News, 4 June 2007).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6719757.stm

(Added: Tue Jun 05 2007   Hits: 73)

Poems from Guatanamo: Detainees Speak

Highlights the legal struggle to publish poems from Guatanamo inmates, with soundbites to the poems and links to relevant human rights organisations.

http://www.uipress.uiowa.edu/books/2007-fall/falpoefro.html

(Added: Wed Nov 28 2007   Hits: 42)

Poets for Human Rights Website

Web community for poets and readers to share poems, ideas and actions on human rights.

http://www.poetsforhumanrights.org/

(Added: Wed Nov 28 2007   Hits: 47)

Rejection of Visa for Dalai Lama: When does a Nobel Prize-winning peace activist become an ``undesirable?''

Last week the Dalai Lama, winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, was unable to attend the 2006 Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in South Korea because its government, sensitive to the wishes of China, refused him a visa. This article urges the acknowledgement of human rights above political kowtowing. (Mickey Spiegel, Korea Times, June 2006)

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/06/19/china13585.htm

(Added: Wed Jun 21 2006   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 131)

REMEMBERING APO JOSE

It was a year ago when two motorcycle-riding assassins murdered Apo Jose Doton, 62 years old, farmer, peasant leader, friend and father not just of his two children by his wife Nanay Dominga but to all young people whose lives he has touched (Cordillera Peoples Alliance, 2007).

http://www.cpaphils.org/index-remembering%20jose.html

(Added: Mon Jun 11 2007   Hits: 73)

Reporters without Borders Annual Report 2008 Asia-Pacific

The report includes surveys of press freedom in every region of the world over the past year and chapters on 98 countries, including European Union members and the United States. The report's introduction lists problems expected in the coming year, especially physical attacks on journalists during key elections in Pakistan (18 February), Russia (2 March), Iran (14 March) and Zimbabwe (29 March) (Reporters without Borders, February 2008).

http://www.dev-zone.org/downloads/Report%20ASIA.pdf

(Added: Thu Feb 14 2008   Hits: 63)

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