· July, 2010

Stories about Human Rights from July, 2010

Nicaragua: 2.0 Meeting of Blogs and New Media in Managua

  31 July 2010

On August 12 and 13 the event 2.0 Meeting of Blogs and New Media (2.0 Encuentro de Blogs & Nuevos Medios) will take place in Managua, with the participation of communication and new media experts from various countries in the region, including some Global Voices authors.

Chile: Mapuche on Hunger Strike over Anti-terror Law

  30 July 2010

On July 12, 2010, fourteen Mapuche indigenous detainees began a hunger strike to denounce the Chilean State’s treatment of Mapuche communities in southern Chile. The strike is aimed mainly at ending the use of Chile’s Anti-terrorism Law against Mapuche prisoners, a Pinochet-era decree widely used during the seventeen years of the Pinochet dictatorship.

Bulgaria: Government's Pressure on the Media

Veni Markovski writes about the Bulgarian government's most recent attack on the independent media: “This latest pressure on the free media comes after a number of worrisome cases, involving journalists in the last years. […] Every government in the last 20 years has come to power at the promise of...

North Korean Football Team Reprimanded in Public

  29 July 2010

North Korea’s national football team were reprimanded in public for losing all of their matches in the FIFA World Cup, South Korea’s Chosun reported. According to the source, team members were summoned to a large auditorium at the Working People’s Culture Palace and were forced to blame their coach in...

Georgia: Presidential faux pax

The Tbilisi Blues comments on the latest gaffe by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili when he called his prime minister a term considered politically incorrect in the West. The blog says that it is surprised at how many people have reacted to the remarks so strongly given that even losing a...

Armenia: Doubts about reported suicide in the Army

Unzipped comments on news that a contract officer in the Armenian army has been reported dead. With mistreatment in the military common and of concern to human rights groups, the blog does not appear to believe the official story that Artak Nazaryan committed suicide and directs readers to a Facebook...

Israel: Rape by Deceit or Racism?

  28 July 2010

The recent conviction of rape by deceit of an Arab posing as a Jew to seduce a Jewish woman to engage in sexual intercourse has sparked conversations across the Hebrew blogosphere about the dire inequality between Jews and Arabs living in Israel. Gilad Lotan translates some of the reactions from Hebrew.

Bangladesh: Minimum Wages Raised In Garments Sector

  28 July 2010

After long protests and bargaining with the employers and the workers, the Bangladesh Government has decided to raise the minimum wages to Tk. 3000 per month ($44) which is approximately double of the current minimum wages. Bloggers discuss how this impacts the workers and the industry.

India: RTI Activist Murdered

  27 July 2010

On the 20th of this month, 33yr old Amit Jethwa, a prominent environmentalist and Right to Information (RTI) activist was shot dead by two unidentified gunmen opposite the Gujarat High Court in Ahmedabad, India. Netizens react with shock and anger.