· May, 2011

Stories about Human Rights from May, 2011

Haiti: Vendors in Delmas

  27 May 2011

Throwing Down the Water reports on “the chaos” associated with clean-up efforts in Delmas, the capital's largest commune.

Cuba: Repressive Action

  27 May 2011

Cuban bloggers cite numerous cases of the authorities cracking down on dissidents, calling the arrests “part of a vicious series of repressive moves by the dictatorship to target the opposition.”

Bermuda: Gay Rights

  27 May 2011

“Bermuda has a long history of discrimination rooted in slavery, the restricted vote and racial segregation. Those who championed resistance to these injustices, those who have benefited from their elimination, should be sensitive to any discrimination set upon any other group”: Respice Finem wants to put gay rights back on...

India: Malayalam Bloggers Campaign For Soumya

  26 May 2011

Kerala was rife with outrage, when 23 year old woman Soumya was thrown out from a moving passenger train, raped and brutally murdered. With the public losing the trust in mainstream media, blogs with the individual's voices question media's silent role and discuss many unnoticed aspects of the story.

Serbia: More Reactions to the Arrest of Ratko Mladic

Richard Byrne of Balkans via Bohemia and Borut Peterlin react to the news of the arrest of Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb general wanted for war crimes, including the Srebrenica massacre. Sladjana Lazic of A Slice Of Serbian Politics and Viktor Marković (@Belgrade) report [en, sr] on small-scale protests in...

Trinidad & Tobago: Oppression of Women

  26 May 2011

“Women’s oppression, he said, was a myth created by the Judeo-Christian West as a tool of capitalism. I nearly fall on the ground”: And then, Lisa Allen-Agostini writes a must-read post about it.

Azerbaijan: Eynulla Fatullayev Pardoned Following Twitter Action

Just two days after the UK branch of Amnesty International launched its Twitter campaign to call for the release of Eynulla Fatullayev comes news that the imprisoned journalist and prisoner of conscience has been included in a list of prisoners to be pardoned ahead of the 93rd anniversary of the founding of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.

Serbia: Arrest of Ratko Mladic

Ratko Mladic, former Bosnian Serb military leader was arrested today by police in Serbia, the country's president, Boris Tadic, confirmed on national television. General Mladic has been on the run since 1995 facing charges of genocide for his role as Bosnian Serb military commander during the 1992-95 civil war in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Cuba: Prisoner & Dissident Deaths

  25 May 2011

Uncommon Sense links to a report which alleges that the death of a prisoner was at the hands of prison guards, while Babalu links to new medical reports of the late Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia, noting that “the report from the most recent beating…mentions the bruises found on his body;...

Brazil: Forest Defender Shot Dead

  24 May 2011

As the Brazilian Congress debates a new Forest Code, and as the Environment Ministry launches new raids on illegal deforestation in Brazil, forest defender José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva was shot dead [pt]. He had announced his life was under threat in the TEDxAmazonia conference, last November.

Cuba: Rojas Detained

  24 May 2011

Cuban bloggers focus their attention on Luis Felipe Rojas, who was reportedly detained this past weekend, allegedly for blogging about the beating of three women.

Trinidad & Tobago: Gay Rights

  24 May 2011

gspottt thinks that “it’s impressive that the Ministry is interested in attitudes to homosexuality; and notable that the poll [about equal rights for homosexuals] was commissioned by the last government”, but maintains that “it’s a matter of how you ask the question.” Photos and video of Trinidad and Tobago's first...

Saudi Arabia: Woman Arrested for Driving

A week ago, a Saudi mother drove her car in Jeddah to take her kids to their school. On May 21, 2011, another Saudi woman, Manal Al-Sharif, posted a video of herself driving on YouTube. Al-Sharif was arrested, then released on bail, but later on the police arrested her once again.