· July, 2011

Stories about Human Rights from July, 2011

Practicing legal profession in Vietnam

  31 July 2011

Attorney Huynh Van Dong writes about the challenges facing lawyers in Vietnam. He reports that an increasing number of lawyers are now in jail for “expressing their own personal opinion.”

China: Hu Jia's tweets

  31 July 2011

Mainland Chinese activist Hu Jia had been imprisoned for 3.5 years under the charge of “inciting state sedition”. He was released on 26 of June 2011. @WLYeung has translated Hu's tweets about his state of mind.

Cote d'Ivoire: Unequal pay for equal work

  30 July 2011

Siriki Moustapha explains on africavox.com [fr] why equal pay for women still is a subject of debate in Ivory Coast: “These are men of varying socio-economic and intellectual levels; they do not think of themselves as old-fashioned, enemies of women, or even anti-feminist. Their logic is that the Ivorian woman...

Blog Carnival: Mexico – Citizenry, Violence and Blogs

  30 July 2011

Global Voices in Spanish has the pleasure of announcing a new edition of its Blog Carnival, which will be focused on bloggers and Internet users from Mexico, along the topic "Mexico: Citizenry, violence and blogs." Find out how, when and where you can participate or get involved by reading this post.

Kuwait: Bidun fly “Freedom Balloons”

A month ago, the stateless community of Kuwait started a 3 day-long campaign of “flipping your twitter avatar” to catch the media's attention and highlight their cause for the world. This Friday, they've made another campaign to set balloons in the air, calling them “freedom balloons". Mona Kareem shares the story.

China: Know more about activist Wang Lihong

  29 July 2011

Wang Lihong, one of many lesser known activists jailed in China, is facing imminent trial. The blog Free Wang Lihong has published a detailed English biography of her. Amnesty International has also issued an appeal to take action for her release.

Cuba: MSM Paying Attention

  29 July 2011

Pedazos de La Isla takes heart in the fact that “various English-language news sources have been brave enough to publish the truth about the Caribbean island”, saying: “In Cuba, there is much to report, whether it is through blogs, digital magazines, newspapers, television, radio, etc. On a daily basis, dissidents...

Cuba: Internet Restrictions

  29 July 2011

Uncommon Sense says that despite the arrival of “an underwater cable reached Cuba from Venezuela” designed to improve Internet access to the island, ” the regime has intensified its control of the Internet, restricting government employees’ access to Facebook and on networks that provide ‘illegal’ e-mail accounts.”

Cuba: Differences of Opinion are Healthy

  28 July 2011

“‘The People's Path‘ is…a vision statement of what the movement for a free Cuba should be striving for,” writes Uncommon Sense, who, along with Babalu, thinks that despite Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet's lack of support, “the debate that the document, and Biscet's disapproval have sparked, are nothing but healthy for...

Ukraine: Timoshenko Case Turning Sour

Levko of Foreign Notes argues that the trial against former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko is quickly becoming a liability for President Yanukovich, with mounting international and domestic critique, and the trial in itself giving an additional political platform for Timoshenko.

Belarus: Schengen Visa=Guilty

Pyotr Kuznetsov mentions [ru] a Belarusian police officer who interpreted a Schengen visa in the passport of one of the women detained at a protest rally as a solid proof that she was not a law-abiding citizen. He said this to a colleague who used to know the woman and...