Stories about Human Rights from February, 2007
Slovenia: The Erased
The Glory of Carniola reports on a rather surreal bureaucratic mishap: “This week marks the 15th anniversary of a now infamous moment in Slovenian history: the removal of 18,000 people from Slovenia’s permanent registry of citizens.”
The Balkans: Bloggers Discuss the ICJ Verdict
On Monday, after nearly ten months of deliberation, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared that the 1995 Srebrenica Massacre was an act of genocide, but that the pattern of the atrocities committed by Bosnian Serbs during the 1992-1995 war (which claimed more than 100,000 lives) was “too broad” to...
Egypt: Nawal Al Saadawi Show
Egyptian blogger Zeinobia accuses Egyptian feminist and writer Dr Nawal Al Saadawi of coming up with an annual gimmick to ensure her name remains in the news. “(I)n 2004 she wanted to be a president ,in 2006 she came and her daughter with the new idea that people to be...
Madagascar: Expulsions in France questioned
(courtesy of sarkostique) Stemming from ongoing racial tensions and amplified by the riots of last summer, fear of immigrants led the French ministry of homeland security to crack down on illegal immigration. Immigrants of Malagasy origins were also affected by the new emphasis on expelling any immigrants without proper accreditation....
Japan: addressing racism
Debito blogs the transcript of Press Conference with United Nations Special Rapporteur Doudou Diene and Debito Arudou (himself) at Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan. The press conference addressed racism issues in Japan
Turkmenistan: What If There Was Internet?
neweurasia posts a comment from a reader who was discussing whether or not access to the internet is important for people in Turkmenistan. The commenter points out there are plenty of more serious problems to worry about.
Poland: On “The Lives of Others”
Traveling Life writes this about the foreign film that got this year's Oscar: “Anyway, Lives of Others did make me appreciate a little more the hate felt by many towards the proponents and tools of the old systems. Even I can remember my mother being taken in for questioning to...
Iraq: Secret Prisons Still Present
Iraqi blogger Ladybird says human rights organisations are still insisting that the US is maintaining secret prisons.
Soviet History: Chechen and Ingush Deportations
J. Otto Pohl writes about the deportation of the Chechen and Ingush people from their homeland 63 years ago.
Meet Sami Ben Gharbia, Global Voices’ new Advocacy Director
Global Voices is delighted to announce the appointment of Sami Ben Gharbia as Advocacy Director, and the attentive reader will already have noticed his posts on anti-censorship and free-speech issues. Sami pictured next to a free-speech campaign slogan Sami is an experienced human rights campaigner, a Tunisian who has lived...
Sri Lanka: Saddam and the Sri Lankans
True Sri Lankan on what appears to be a lot of silence regarding the execution of Sri Lankans. “When Saddam Hussein was hanged there were massive protests in Sri Lanka organised by certain sections of the muslim community but a few days ago 4 Sri Lankans were beheaded and then...
Tunisia, France: How To Wash the Dirty Laundry At Home
Mouwaten Tounsi deplores (Fr) that ex-Tunisian diplomat Khaled Ben Saïd is being judged in France for torture. He would have liked Ben Saïd judged in Tunisia. He proposes a reconciliation-based justice. The process would focus on indemnification of torture victims by the government rather than on prosecution of officials who...
Syria: Iraqi Refugees
Matthew Carrington visits an area inhabited by Iraqi refugees and shows us fleeting moments of their lives here.
Egypt: Has Sadawi Escaped?
Egyptian blogger Sandmonkey is wondering about whether writer and feminist Nawal Al Saadawi is ever returning to Egypt here. “There are rumors floating around that Nawal el Seadawy, the prominent egyptian femenist, had escaped Egypt to Belgium and then the US after she was charged with dsidain for religions. She...
Egypt: Kareem Case Appeal Date Set
An appeal hearing has been set for convicted Egyptian blogger Kareem Nabil Sulaiman, who has been sentenced to four years in prison, according to his support website Free Kareem. The appeal court hearing will be on March 12.
Saudi Arabia: Government Cracking Down on Bloggers, New Saudi Ambassador to US, and More
A Press frenzy over Saudi school curriculums, a govermental campaign targeting a number of male Saudi bloggers, Anna Nicole Smith, Kareem Amer, forced divorces, a new government program to fight corruption, and much more are keeping the Saudi blogosphere lively. Khloud did a great job at summarizing a recent BBC...
Tunisphere: How to blog about politics without being censored?
Tunisian bloggers seem to have found ways to talk about Tunisian politics while avoiding getting caught by the ATI (Tunisian agency of Internet) watchdogs in charge of denying access and filtering out any site or blog that is critical of the Tunisian government and its members. After its last campaign...
Mexico: Unsentenced Prisoners
Mark in Mexico cites a study by the Open Source Institute and the Centro de Investigación para el Desarrollo (CIDAC) which found that 42% (90,000 inmates) of those in prison in Mexico have never been sentenced.
The Balkans: Reactions to the ICJ's Verdict
The massacre in Srebrenica was an act of genocide, declares the International Court of Justice. East Ethnia blogged while waiting for the verdict – and then provided an initial reaction as well as a guest-blogger's opposing point of view.
Maldives: Torture Techniques in Paradise
The blog Groundsix notes some of the torture techniques used on detainees and prisoners in the Maldives. Putting in stocks: The victim is restrained with his or her ankles and wrists locked in tiny holes in a block of wood. The victim remains bent and does not have the use...
Zimbabwe: Mugabe in 1980
Kubatana blogs posts Robert Mugabe's inspiring speech, which was delivered in 1980: Yesterday The Herald published a compilation of speeches made by Robert Mugabe during his extended stay in power. Mugabe’s address to the nation on the eve of Zimbabwe’s independence was included under the title “An enduring legacy of...
