Human Rights Archive

MANAGUA, Nicaragua – A government probe of political dissidents and journalists has caused violent clashes in Nicaragua and concern abroad as the country heads into municipal elections Nov. 9. A statement by U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood criticized Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s verbal attacks against opponents, as well as police raids against two non-governmental organizations in what Ortega’s critics say is a wide-reaching “witch hunt” against the opposition. The European Union, a group of former presidents of the Americas led by Jimmy Carter, Human Rights Watch and the Paris-based Reporters without Borders all released statements in recent weeks expressing […]

In early October, news and rumors spread through the city of Mosul in northern Iraq that insurgents were targeting the area’s Christian population. The attacks were apparently aimed at driving the Christians out of town — a sort of “religious cleansing.” The anti-Christian campaign reportedly began in September, with “death threats through letters, SMS and e-mails,” according to Mustafa Gundogdu, a researcher from the U.K.-based Kurdish Human Rights Project. (Iraq’s minority Kurdish population, concentrated in self-governing Kurdistan, includes many Christians, although not all Iraqi Christians are Kurds.) Gundogdu told World Politics Review that the threats were signed by a group […]

A high-profile trial of a shadowy Turkish ultra-nationalist organization dubbed Ergenekon, after the mythic birth place of the Turkic race, got under way in the Silvri Prison Complex near Istanbul on Monday amid fervent demonstrations. The Turkish press has long anticipated the commencement of the trial, which is the culmination of a 16-month investigation and 2455-page indictment that has divided opinion in the country. The Islamist ruling AK Party has long championed the case as the first crackdown in Turkey on “the deep state,” an alleged covert, nationalist cabal of military officers, intelligence agents and policemen acting outside the judicial […]

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — A bitter power struggle within South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) has not only led to the imminent formation of a splinter party. It has also completely changed the face of South African politics. In the shadows of the struggle for political supremacy, both the country’s economy and its human rights record have taken a beating over the past five months. The struggle for control of the ANC began after the election of a new National Executive Committee (NEC) during the party’s national congress last December in Polokwane, in the country’s northern province of Limpopo. […]

RUSSIAN RIGHTS DEFENSE A POISONOUS AFFAIR — In a twist that could have been lifted from the plot of a dime store spy novel, a Russian human rights lawyer prosecuting the case of an assassinated journalist missed pretrial hearings last week when she and members of her family fell ill after discovering a suspicious substance in their car. Karina Moskalenko has built a career participating in some of Russia’s most notorious cases, defending some of the Kremlin’s harshest critics along the way. Last week, she and her children fell ill with bouts of dizziness, headaches and nausea after discovering balls […]

LIMA, Peru — Earlier this month, lawmakers in the United States passed a bill that would renew trade preferences to four countries in South America. The Andean Trade Preferences Act was signed in 1991 and eliminated tariffs on a host of exports from Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru in an effort to bolster economic development in the region and offer alternatives to drug trafficking. The latest renewal was set to expire at the end of this year. U.S. President George W. Bush is expected to sign the bill, despite having requested last month that Bolivia’s beneficiary status be suspended, citing […]

On Sept. 28, Belarus, a country branded by the U.S. government as “the last true dictatorship” in Europe, held elections for its 110-seat lower house of parliament. Despite some improvements, independent observers said the voting was neither free, nor fair. In an attempt to mend fences with the West, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko had invited more than 900 international observers to monitor the voting, stressing his commitment to a democratic ballot. Seventy-six out of 276 registered candidates represented parties critical of the ruling regime, and a few opposition representatives were placed in precinct electoral committees — a clear departure from […]

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — The arrest last week of Ohn Kyaing, a 69-year-old former journalist and member of the Burmese opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), suggests that recent hopes concerning the Burmese military regime’s willingness to cooperate with the international community were premature. Kyaing’s arrest comes little more than a week after the junta announced the release of 9,002 prisoners as a goodwill gesture, perhaps targeting world opinion in anticipation of nationwide elections in 2010. Seven prisoners of conscience were among those set free, including U Win Tin, the country’s longest serving political prisoner. Tin, who was a key […]

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE DRAWS SCRUTINY — The impending announcement of this year’s Nobel peace prize winner is drawing more speculation than usual from human rights advocates, the media and governments, as 2008 marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Most observers believe the nominating committee, which is scheduled to make its selection announcement Oct. 10, will pick an individual or group involved in human rights, with the winner most likely related to China. While speculation regarding a China-related winner has been growing for several years, many observers believe that concerns over how such a move would […]