· February, 2012

Stories about Human Rights from February, 2012

Cuba: Worry about Hunger Striker

  29 February 2012

Uncommon Sense hopes that political prisoner Ernesto Borges’ fate will not go the way of so many other hunger strikers, saying: “He needs you to learn his story and to spread it so that his life can be saved.”

Paraguay: An Interview on the Land Conflict in Alto Parana

  29 February 2012

Landowners are opposing review of land titles in the department of Alto Paraná “to determine if the lands are ‘ill-gotten,’ whose title deeds could be forged or faked or simply seized from the times of the Stroessner dictatorship” Ignacio Cirio explains. Upside Down World published a translation of Cirio's interview...

Video Highlights: Defending Human Rights

  28 February 2012

A selection of Global Voices' recent and interesting stories on video advocacy including indigenous rights and recent news from Latin America, East Asia, Western Europe and Sub Saharan Africa selected by Juliana Rincón Parra.

Jamaica: Inmate Beatings

  28 February 2012

Following reports that several high-profile inmates are being beaten, Active Voice wants to know “what’s going down at the Horizon Adult Remand Centre”, which seems to be “a virtual Guantanamo Bay.”

Bahrain: #Hungry4BH Trends Worldwide

  27 February 2012

Bahraini netizens, backed by the international community, helped raise the voices of detained political activists on hunger strike, by making their plight a trending topic on Twitter. Mona Kareem reports on the efforts of activists online and on the ground in Bahrain.

Cuba: Working for “The Enemy”?

  27 February 2012

Havana Times reports that “the leading Cuban government website…unleashed a front page attack on blogger Yoani Sanchez…with an article accusing her of working for the enemy (USA) for pay”; Sanchez herself sees a news report “in which the blogger Miriam Celaya and other acquaintances appear, surrounded with epithets such as...

Cuba: More Sunday Detentions

  27 February 2012

Uncommon Sense blogs about yet another Sunday of repression as members of Las Damas de Blanco were again detained by authorities.

Myanmar: Visiting the Kachin Refugee Camp

  27 February 2012

Nang Nyi wrote about her experience when she and her friends visited a Kachin Refugee camp near the Shan State borders of Myanmar and China. Over 1000 Kachin people have been staying at this refugee camp ever since fighting broke out between the government army and the Kachin Independence Army

Bolivia: Disabled Protesters Demand More Welfare Support

  26 February 2012

For nearly 100 days, a group of physically disabled people held a march from the eastern lower lands of Bolivia to the seat of government in capital La Paz, located 3,600 metres above sea level, demanding a yearly subsidy of at least 3,000 Bolivianos (434 US dollars approximately).

Italy: Historic ‘Guilty’ Verdict in the Eternit Asbestos Trial

  25 February 2012

It is a historic verdict: on February 13, 2012 in Turin, northern Italy, the two top senior executives of the multinational Eternit, a producer of asbestos, were sentenced to 16 years in prison after a criminal trial began in 2009. Here are the reactions of the associations and the families of asbestos victims in Italy and Europe.

Cuba: Prisoners’ Rights

  24 February 2012

Uncommon Sense republishes a statement by Amnesty International about “former prisoner of conscience Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia [whose] whereabouts are unknown following his alleged arrest in central Havana, Cuba, on 21 February”; Pedazos de la Isla, meanwhile, reports that “the political prisoner on hunger strike, Ernesto Borges, was taken from...

Bolivia: Disabled Protesters Clash with Police

  24 February 2012

Disabled Bolivians marching to demand higher government subsidies clashed with police on Thursday, February 23. Blogger Mario R. Durán [es] shares citizen photos of the clashes. On Twitter, netizens are using the hashtag #discapacitados [es] (“disabled”) to comment and report on the march.

Brazil: The Deficient Prison Systems of the Americas

  24 February 2012

Under the Brazilian Sun is a documentary on the current state of the Brazilian penitentiary system. In the aftermath of the tragic prison fire in Honduras that killed 350 inmates, prison escapes in Peru and riots in Mexican jails, coming up with solutions to this situation becomes more relevant than ever.