Stories about Human Rights from May, 2013
Leaving North Korea
Concerns over insufficient protection of North Korean refugees have grown ever stronger as news came out that nine young North Korean defectors have been forced to return to North Korea after being captured in Laos. The Dreamer blog shares a story of a young North Korean defector which explains in...
Disaster Highlights Roma's Struggle for Human Rights in France
A violent fire destroyed an abandoned factory in the eastern French city of Lyon squatted by families from the Roma community, killing two women and 12-year-old child. In the aftermath, the survivors relocated into a school open only in the evenings, leaving them outside in the rain during the day. The tragedy has put the spotlight once again on France's controversial policy toward the Roma.
Macedonian Journalist's Arrest Stirs Protest
Macedonian journalists gathered [mk; video and text: sq, mk] in front of the Criminal Court in the capital Skopje today to protest against the arrest of their colleague, Tomislav Kezarovski, according to this note [en] posted in the Macedonian Facebook group titled “Journalists and citizens in defense of the right...
Tajik Constitution's ‘Fairy Tales’
Mardikornoma blog comments [tj] on the constitution of Tajikistan, suggesting that it has become more of a fairy tales book than the country's supreme law: As I skim through the pages of Tajikistan's Constitution, I cannot help thinking that this document must be from some other country.
#SafeCityPledge: Indians Take a Stand Online for Women's Safety
A Twitter campaign has Indians flooding social media with personal promises to combat sexual harassment and sexism.
New Blog Celebrates Sri Lanka’s Diversity
Mixed Rice is a new blog, which aims to celebrate Sri Lanka's diversity and provide a platform for thoughtful discussions about the forces that threaten unity.
Journalists Fight Hired Hooligans and Police Indifference in Ukraine
May 18 was an eventful day in Ukraine's capital Kyiv. But of all the highlights of that day, only one incident - an attack on journalists that the police first failed to prevent and then failed to investigate properly - still remains in the spotlight, fueling online discussions and real-life protests.
VIDEO: Brazil's Police Intimidate Indigenous
Video [Audio and subtitles in Portuguese] recorded by the native Paygomuyatpu Mundurukku shows soldiers of the National Force verbally intimidating his tribe on the area of Belo Monte dam.
VIDEO: How Two Men Worlds Apart Fought Injustice and Won
Mkhuseli "Khusta" Jack and Oscar Olivera led two different non violent civil resistance movements, one in South Africa in 1985, the other in Bolivia in 2000. A video produced in the School of Authentic Journalism tells their stories.
35,000 Child Prostitutes in Bangladesh
Amader Kotha, a site dedicated to women's issues in Bangladesh reports that at least 35,000 children are being exploited sexually on a commercial basis in the country. More than half of them live in the official red light districts of the country and are often forced to enter the profession that...
Campaign to Liberate Oscar López Rivera
The campaign for the liberation of Puerto Rican independence fighter Oscar López Rivera has intensified. During 32 years López Rivera has been imprisoned in the United States charged with “seditious conspiracy” and “conspiracy to escape” for which he received a 70 year sentence. He is now 70 years old. The...
13-year-old Girl Publicly Shamed in China
A 13-year-old girl was handcuffed and then paraded on the streets after “accidentally spilling water on a town government vehicle” in Guizhou province. Fauna from ChinaSMACK translated Chinese netizens’ reaction.
Human Rights Activists Hone Digital Skills in 2013 Empowerment Lab
Eleven international human rights activists participated in this year's Empowerment Lab, a week-long training program that aims to empower digital activists who face growing threats of freedom of expression.
Interview: Cartoonist Slams Forced Evictions in Brazil for World Cup
In an interview with Brazilian investigative journalism agency Pública, cartoonist Carlos Latuff criticizes the rash of forced evictions in Rio de Janeiro to make way for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games.
Botswana: Stealing of the ‘Bushman's Secrets’
MyWeku reviews a documentary about stealing of the San “Bushman's secrets”: This dcoumentary [sic] paints a sad picture of how Unilever, a company that markets itself as “ the world’s largest ice cream manufacturer,” is now ironically stripping bare the Bushman’s secrets to market as a weight loss product.
British Actor Russell Brand on Woolwich
That bloke is a nut. A nut who happens to be Muslim. Blaming Muslims for this is like blaming Hitler’s moustache for the Holocaust.
From Guinea to Italy to France and Back: An Interview with Blogger Abdoulaye Bah
Global Voices author and translator Abdoulaye Bah, originally from Guinea, is a retired Italian citizen who has worked for the United Nations. He now splits his time between Rome and Nice. We spoke with Bah about his life, from his experience hiding in a bathroom to enter Italy without the proper papers, to his marriage in the Vatican, from his blog to his multi-belief family.
Yemen: Two Men Killed for Overtaking a Sheikh's Wedding Convoy
Two young Yemeni men were killed last week for bypassing a wedding procession of a Sheikh (tribal leader) in Yemen's capital Sanaa. Khalid Al-Khateeb and his friend Hassan Aman were driving in their car when they came across a tribal wedding procession and were shot to death for over-taking the convoy. The wedding convoy belonged to Sheikh Ali Abd Rabo Al-Awadhi, a member in Yemen's Islah party and a member of the National Dialogue. The murder sparked an outrage among netizens and activists.
Amnesty Publishes 2013 Report on Angola
Amnesty International annual report on Angola is available online. The NGO highlights cases such as the problem of police repression against the opposition parties during the presidential election last year, the abduction of the activists who organized protests demanding the payment of salaries and pensions to former war veterans in...
