Human Rights Archive

BRAZIL REVIEWS PRISON SYSTEM — Brazilian authorities are investigating the country’s prison system in the wake of the weeks-long rape and abuse of a 15-year old girl by male cellmates. Brazilian legislators have announced an investigation into the case and have pledged to build new prisons, upgrade existing facilities and adding space for 5,500 female prisoners. The young girl, identified in the Brazilian press only as “L,” was placed in a holding cell with 20 men aged 20-34 after being arrested on robbery charges. “L” spent a month in the cell, where she was raped, forced to trade sex for […]

‘ELDERS’ LAUNCH GLOBAL SIGNATURE CAMPAIGN — A group of distinguished veteran statesmen, diplomats and human rights campaigners known as the “Elders” launched a global drive to gather signatures from one billion people who are committed to living their lives according to the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The “Every human has rights” campaign aims “to create an atmosphere in which no person, government, or entity can deny freedom and liberty for any human” and in which “one united human family join[s] together to protect and defend the rights of each other,” Archbishop Desmond Tutu, an elder, said […]

The dispute over international monitoring of Russia’s recent parliamentary and upcoming presidential elections — underscored by President Vladimir Putin’s denunciations against foreign interference in Russia’s parliamentary elections — must be understood as a broader divergence in how Moscow and other member governments envisage the future of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the world’s largest regional security institution. In particular, Russia and its allies want to rebalance OSCE both functionally and geographically. They seek to reduce the OSCE’s democracy promotion efforts while increasing its role in countering transnational security threats like terrorism and in advancing economic development […]

CHINA URGED TO END CHILD LABOR IN SCHOOLS — Human Rights Watch Dec. 3 called on Chinese authorities to end the use of labor programs in Chinese middle schools because of rampant abuses. “China claims that it is fighting child labor, and repeatedly cites its legal prohibition against the practice as proof. But the government actively violates its own prohibitions by running large programs through the school system that use child labor, lack sufficient health and safety guarantees, and exploit loopholes in domestic labor laws,” Human Rights Watch Asia Advocacy Director Sophie Richardson said in a press release. The Chinese […]

MORE PRESSURE ON CHINA — Members of the European Parliament, human rights activists and dissidents appeared before a hearing of the European Parliament’s Human Rights Subcommittee Nov. 26 to testify about efforts to put pressure on the International Olympic Committee to hold China to a higher human rights standard. Speakers chronicled a wide array of human rights abuses in China and argued the IOC should honor its own precedent — set when it banned South Africa from Olympic events in 1964 because of apartheid — and publicly censure Beijing. From press freedom and privacy rights to Darfur and Tibet, various […]