Stories about Human Rights from May, 2013
Demanding Transparency is Not a Crime
A number of citizen right advocates issued a public statement demanding the release of 10 citizens who were arrested for demanding officials to publicly disclose their personal assets. Seeing Red in China has translated the joint statement into English.
President of Mozambique's Medical Association Under Arrest
After a week-long strike by medical professionals in Mozambique, Dr. Jorge Arroz, the President of Associação Médica de Moçambique, was arrested on Sunday night, May 26, 2013, under accusation of “sedition” (incitement of discontent or rebellion against a government). On Twitter and Facebook, @verdademz, @canal_moz and other netizens report.
Jamaica's Blog Action Day: What Police Can Do
Jamaican bloggers marked their own version of Blog Action Day (dubbed JA Blog Day), on May 23. Netizens discussed the disturbing issue of police brutality, state security abuses and extra judicial killings - particularly fitting as the date for the event was the third anniversary of the "Tivoli Gardens Massacre", which took place during the country's state of emergency in 2010.
Saudi Arabia Executes Five Yemeni Men, Publicly Displays Bodies
Five Yemenis convicted of murder and robbery were executed in Saudi Arabia and their bodies displayed in public in the southwestern town of Jizan. Photos of the bodies suspended from a rope high in the air circulated on Twitter and Facebook to the outrage of many Yemenis.
Students Defend Cambodia's Human Rights Record
Some students of Mekong University in Cambodia held a protest after U.N. human rights envoy Surya Subedi delivered a lecture on law of foreign investment. The protesters accused the UN envoy of distorting the human rights situation in Cambodia which they claim is better compared to other countries. But aside...
For Two Weeks, Liberia's Media Refused to Report on the President
Liberian independent journalists have ended a nearly two-week long refusal to report on the country's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a blackout they placed on the leader for failing to condemn her security director's comments calling journalists "terrorists".
Well-Known Chinese Leftist Advocates Militarized Internet
A prominent Chinese nationalist has called for China to take tighter control of the country's Internet in part by building an online army of civilians to monitor the Web and promote the communist party.
Bahamas: Haitians are our Brothers
One of the most dastardly parts of the Atlantic slave trade was how fellow human beings were treated as as if they less than men and women. And it seems that many of us feel the same way about illegal Haitians here in The Bahamas. Weblog Bahamas’ Rick Lowe adds,...
14-year-old Citizen Journalist Killed Covering Clashes in Syria
Omar Qatifaan, a 14-year-old media activist, was killed while covering clashes between pro- and anti-government forces in the southern Daraa al-Ballad area of Syria near the border with Jordan.
Guinea-Bissau Youth Calls for Peace
The Guinean movement Ação Cidadã (Citizen Action) [pt] released an open letter [pdf] on May 8 “from a youth who wants to have their place in their own land in peace, with the freedom and progress they are entitled.” The document calls for young Guineans to mobilize peacefully for peace, democracy...
Mozambique Mining Protest Ends in Arrests
Three brickmakers who had been arrested by the Mozambican Police while protesting peacefully with hundreds of people “at the gates of Brazilian mining giant Vale”, in Moatize on May 14, 2013, have been set free and are waiting for the verdict, NGO Justiça Ambiental informs denouncing acts of intimidation. The resettled population has been protesting...
Nicaraguans Defend Law Against Violence Towards Women
In April a campaign entitled "I Support Law 779" began on social networks demanding that the "Integral Law Against Violence Towards Women" be respected before numerous reforms that religious leaders and members of the Supreme Court of Justice proposed.
No Women In Pubs In Andhra After 10 PM
Does the absence of women in public spaces makes these spaces safer for women? The above comment is made by the blogger at The Life and Times of an Indian Homemaker, who is outraged by the decision of the government of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, to ban women...
Turkey: Syrian Refugees Targeted after Reyhanlı Blasts
On May 11th, Reyhanlı [en] small Turkish town on Turkey-Syria border, was under terrorist attacks. This was the biggest terrorist attack [en] in country's 90 year-old republican history. Netizens react to the blast, a government imposed media ban on the tragedy and the targeting of Syrian refugees which followed.
Jamaica: Blogging about Police Brutality
To mark the tragic anniversary of the Tivoli incursion and the lives that were lost there, Jamaican bloggers are uniting to draw attention to the scourge of extra-judicial killings in Jamaica and a police force seemingly out of control and beyond restraint. Active Voice is gearing up to comment on...
Australia Excuses Itself from Refugee Law
On 17 May 2013 Australian blogger and self-styled ‘global nomad’ More Atlitude posted a lengthy and detailed post in response to “Australia’s decision yesterday to excise its mainland from the migration zone” this week. He argues that it essentially reinforces a horrible, horrible policy of enforced detention for legal (I...
In Wake of Brutal Murder, Questions About the Roots of Russian Homophobia
Are Russia's members of parliament, who have fostered a climate of homophobia over the past year, to blame for a man tortured to death by drunk hooligans in Volgograd?
Jorge Videla, Argentina's Ex-Military Leader, Dies in Jail
At the age of 87, the last Argentinean dictator sentenced for crimes against humanity, Jorge Rafael VIdela, died in jail.
China: Petition System Reform?
Yueran Zhang from Tea Leaf Nation reviews the Chinese petition system and discusses directions for future reform: Ongoing reforms should include the enhancement of the institutional powers of bureaus of letters and visits. On the other hand, the citizens flooding the petitioning offices, which are considered a last resort, reveal...
Chinese Government Bans Seven ‘Speak-Not’ Subjects
A prominent Chinese law professor recently revealed in his microblog on popular Twitter-like site Sina Weibo that the Chinese government has imposed a policy on university professors instructing them not to teach seven subjects, including freedom of the press, past mistakes of the communist party, and human rights.
