· August, 2008

Stories about Human Rights from August, 2008

Thailand: People’s coup or putsch?

  30 August 2008

Since Tuesday, anti-government protesters have invaded Thailand’s Government House demanding the resignation of Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej. The rallyists, estimated to be as low as 3,000 to as high as 25,000, are members of the People's Alliance for Democracy

Saudi Arabia: Independent women

While there are no doubt restrictions for women living in Saudi Arabia, they do not necessarily match the oppressive image that many foreigners have of the country. In this post we have advice for women wanting to visit Jeddah alone, a review of a women-only hotel in Riyadh, and a plea to those foreigners who feel they want to speak on behalf of oppressed Saudi women.

Kenya: Reproductive Rights Bill Sparks Abortion Debate

  28 August 2008

A bill proposed by Kenyan women's rights groups, which would make it easier to have an abortion, has re-sparked the debate about legalizing abortion. The procedure is currently illegal in Kenya, unless the pregnant woman's life is in danger. Many religious leaders and politicians in the country have spoken out...

Russia: Anti-War Music

  28 August 2008

LJ user marchenk posts a collection of links (RUS) to videos of various anti-war songs in Russian, French, English, Italian, German, Hebrew, Serbian, Spanish, Polish, Arabic and other languages.

Haiti: Homes Being Destroyed

  28 August 2008

“Cite Soleil, a shanty town in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, is under siege by the UN occupying forces”: The Haitian Blogger publishes a statement by the Haitian Lawyers Leadership “condemning the wholesale expropriation and demotion being undertaken in Cite Soleil of 155 homes.”

Venezuela: Yukpa Indians, Chávez and land disputes

  28 August 2008

Citizen media videos have been uploaded informing of the situation arising in Venezuela between the Yukpa Indians of the Perijá Mountains, landowners and President Chávez. This dispute over land limits is 30 years in the making, when military forces displaced the Indigenous communities of the Yukpa by force and established landowners who have cattle ranches and have been working the lands ever since.

South Korea: Sex Offender Bracelet

  28 August 2008

Korea Beat translated a local news about the implementation of sex offender bracelets policy: beginning on September 1st the bracelets will be able to report the movements of sex offenders 24 hours a day.

Brazil: The rice war on indigenous land

  27 August 2008

Brazil's Supreme Court decides today about the future of Raposa Serra do Sol's Indigenous land. Observatório da Imprensa [Press Observatory, pt] have published two texts about the media coverage of the subject. One of them is called The Rice War [pt]: “The press still own us an approach that will...

Saudi Arabia: Off the road

Desert Flower, an American Muslim living in Saudi Arabia, is tired of not being permitted to drive: ‘…it gets down right stupid when you have to schedule an appointment to go grocery shopping or to get to the pharmacy or the doctor for that matter.’

Korea: Can a brassiere be a dangerous product?

  27 August 2008

On the 15th of August, the 815 Liberation Day led people to gather together and to have a 100th candlelight vigil. While they marched on the street, some of them were taken to the police station. A scandal emerged when it was discovered that in a police station in Seoul...

Cuba: Punk Rocker Arrested

  27 August 2008

As several bloggers voice their outrage at the arrest of Cuban punk rocker Gorki Aguila, Havana-based Generation Y claims: “They took him because nothing destabilizes the intransigents more than a man in his most free state.”