Human Rights Archive

In a country where political opponents and outspoken critics of President Paul Kagame have a tendency to turn up dead or disappear, the official explanation of the death of a popular Rwandan gospel singer last week was immediately met with skepticism. The singer, Kizito Mihigo, had been arrested at the border earlier this month for allegedly trying to flee the country illegally and join armed rebels in neighboring Burundi. Three days later, he was found dead in his cell; the police say he committed suicide. Some of Mihigo’s songs run counter to the government’s preferred narrative about the Rwandan genocide, […]

When Xi Jinping convened a teleconference meeting Sunday of 170,000 government and Communist Party officials around China to discuss the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, his message was both grim and resolute. China, he said, was facing “a crisis and a big test” with “the fastest spread” and “the widest scope” of any epidemic that has struck his country since the Communist Party took over in 1949. There had been, the Chinese leader admitted, “obvious shortcomings in the response.” But after saying that officials had to “learn lessons” from their mistakes, Xi nonetheless went on to boast that the emergency response had […]

When Singapore’s government enacted a law aimed at cracking down on fake news last fall, activists, academics and free speech advocates warned that it was a pretext by the ruling People’s Action Party to censor voices critical of the government. The Protection of Online Falsehoods and Manipulation law, or POFMA, allows the government to force social media platforms and users to issue corrections or remove any offending posts. Failure to comply can result in steep fines or even a jail sentence Since it was passed, the law has been invoked several times against opposition figures and media outlets critical of […]

Editor’s Note: Every Wednesday, WPR Newsletter and Engagement Editor Benjamin Wilhelm curates the week’s top news and expert analysis on China. A court in eastern China on Monday sentenced a Chinese-born Swedish bookseller to 10 years in prison for “illegally providing intelligence” to overseas parties. Gui Minhai’s case drew international attention to the lengths that Beijing is willing to go to silence criticism, even from abroad, while souring ties between China and Sweden. Gui was part-owner of Mighty Current Media, a Hong Kong-based publishing house known for its politically sensitive books about top Chinese Communist Party leaders. In 2015, he […]

When Sudan’s military brass removed the country’s longtime strongman, President Omar al-Bashir, 10 months ago, skepticism about their intentions was the order of the day. The demonstrators on the streets of Khartoum were the most skeptical, and their massive pro-democracy protests that had forced the military’s hand did not stop. Four months later, and against all odds, the protesters achieved another impressive victory: a power-sharing agreement with the military, establishing a transitional ruling council. Yet even then, not everyone was convinced that a country accused of committing serial genocide under Bashir was on its way to fully rejoining the community […]

Editor’s Note: Every Friday, Andrew Green curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent. Sudan’s transitional government appears prepared to hand former President Omar al-Bashir over to the International Criminal Court to be tried for war crimes and genocide allegedly committed during his regime’s long, scorched-earth campaign in the country’s Darfur region. The decision is reportedly part of a potential peace agreement with rebel groups still operating in Darfur. It could be an unexpected boon for the beleaguered ICC, but only if the military members of the transitional government in Khartoum don’t renege on the deal. […]

Legislative elections in Comoros last month were dominated by President Azali Assoumani’s party, the Convention for the Renewal of Comoros, or CRC. Opposition parties boycotted the vote, arguing it was rigged against them, and the CRC-led coalition won 19 of the 24 seats that were contested. Runoffs will be held later this month for constituencies where no candidate took a majority of the vote. But last month’s results alone have already made the legislature “no more than a rubber stamp” for Assoumani’s agenda, says Simon Massey, a senior lecturer in international relations at Coventry University. In an email interview with […]

BAGHDAD—Anti-government protesters in Iraq have spent more than four months calling for political and economic reforms and venting their anger at the failure of successive governments to provide better living standards and economic opportunities. Security forces, caught off-guard by the strength and resilience of the youth-driven protest movement, have responded with a campaign of repression that has killed more than 600 people and wounded tens of thousands more across the country. But the crackdown has only intensified the crisis, as Iraqis continue to take to the streets demanding justice for slain demonstrators and reforms of the political system. The government […]

Ahead of parliamentary elections later this month, there is widespread disillusionment among Iranian voters. The nuclear deal that Tehran concluded with world powers in 2015 is hanging by a thread, and the economy is being throttled by unprecedented American sanctions. Across the country, security forces have clashed with protesters disgruntled at economic and political conditions. And while Iran and the United States have pulled back from the brink of war, tensions remain high. All of this has fueled the more hard-line factions in Tehran who blame President Hassan Rouhani, a centrist politician first elected in 2013 promoting an agenda of […]

Editor’s Note: Every Friday, Andrew Green curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent. Malawi’s Constitutional Court, citing irregularities that included visibly altered return sheets, took the unprecedented step this week of unanimously annulling the results of last May’s disputed presidential election and calling for a rerun within 150 days. President Peter Mutharika, who was narrowly declared the winner of that election, has vowed to appeal the court’s decision. Mutharika, who first took office in 2014, received 38.6 percent of the vote last year, followed by opposition leader Lazarus Chakwera at 35.4 percent. Saulos Chilima, who […]

MEXICO CITY—Mexico’s left-leaning president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, took office in December 2018 vowing to demilitarize his country’s war on drugs and tackle its wave of violent crime with a policy of “hugs, not bullets.” Yet his first full year in office saw 35,588 homicides committed nationwide, breaking the previous record for the third year in a row. In one of the more high-profile atrocities, nine members of a prominent Mexican-American Mormon family were massacred in November, including six children. The spiraling violence, along with AMLO’s failed promises to address it, has rekindled a long-running debate in Mexico over how […]