Newsroom

Update

Uganda is a country where the human rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community have been stripped away by anti-gay legislation already on the books. The country's LGBT community has a history of being harassed and silenced by the government and the Ugandan police. A new bill is now being proposed that goes even further by imposing sentences ranging from seven years in prison to death for either being gay or supporting anyone who is. The new Anti-Homosexuality Bill being considered by Uganda's Parliament proposes a life sentence for engaging in "homosexual activity" and the death sentence…

January 12, 2010

Update

This past weekend, the New York Times reported on the widespread and coordinated cover up of deaths in immigration detention. One such case, highlighted in our 2009 report on immigration detention, Jailed Without Justice, involved Boubacar Bah, a 52-year-old tailor from Guinea who had lived in the US for ten years when he was detained. Newly available video shows him begging for help while handcuffed on the floor in solitary confinement. After four months in a coma, he died in detention. The deliberate and coordinated dehumanization of the 107 people known to have died in immigration detention is shocking and…

January 11, 2010

Update

As UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon put it "Violence against women and girls will not be eradicated until all of us – men and boys- refuse to tolerate it". Globally, men are taking a stand. Kenya's Men for Gender Equality Now (MENGEN), a member of the Say NO – UNiTE to End Violence Against Women global coalition, stands out as an inspiring organization.  Since 2001, MENGEN has worked to involve men in the struggle against gender-based violence and gender-inequality. To date, the organization has reached thousands of men and women in 21 constituencies across Kenya, championing equality and rejecting violence against…

January 11, 2010

Update

It's time for the Chhatisgarh state government to immediately put a stop to the torture and arbitrary arrest of peace activists in their state.

January 9, 2010

Update

Homosexuality is little tolerated or accepted in much of Africa. South Africa legalized gay marriage in 2006, but incidence of hate crimes towards gay and lesbian persons are not uncommon. Uganda is currently contemplating a new law allowing the death penalty for those convicted of being gay. This criminalization of homosexuality occurs in many African countries, and Malawi is no exception. So when two men pledged their love and commitment to each other last month, they were promptly arrested. On December 26th, Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga held a traditional engagement ceremony in Blantyre’s poor township of Chirimba. Two days later, the…

January 8, 2010

Update

We mentioned in this site last August that a shocking video had been released which appeared to show extrajudicial killings in Sri Lanka during the final months of the war between the Sri Lankan government and the opposition Tamil Tigers.  The Sri Lankan government had denounced the video as a fake.  Today, a senior UN official presented the findings of three experts commissioned by him, which concluded that the video was authentic.   The official called for an independent inquiry into war crimes and other violations of human rights and humanitarian law committed during the war in Sri Lanka.   (The Sri Lankan government later…

January 8, 2010

Update

If the death penalty is unconstitutionally wanton and freakish, then what about Lady Gaga?  A profound, if unanswered question that Stephen Colbert raised last night as he lamented the decline of capital punishment in the US, blaming "juries and prosecutors" and CSI-Miami.  He declared his belief that the death penalty is a deterrent, in that it deters him from hunting his interns for sport "in America." Colbert also took on Justice Scalia’s recent infamous dissent in the Troy Davis case, where Scalia stated flatly that there is no problem with execution someone who is "actually" innocent.  "Executing the innocent may be cruel,…

January 8, 2010

Update

About a year ago, my first entry was posted to this site, about the murder of the Sri Lankan editor Lasantha Wickramatunga on Jan. 8, 2009.   Mr. Wickramatunga had been an outspoken critic of the Sri Lankan government and his paper, the Sunday Leader,  and its staff had previously come under attack before his killing.  President Rajapaksa ordered a police investigation into his murder.  As a recent report by the International Federation of Journalists makes clear, however, to date there's been little progress in bringing his killers to justice.  At least 14 journalists and other media workers have been killed in Sri Lanka since 2006.  Will we…

January 6, 2010

Update

Last year ended with the news of a record low number of death sentences, and with the decision by the American Law Institute, described today in the New York Times, to give up trying to fix our broken capital punishment system.  The Institute, a collection of thousands of judges, lawyers and law professors, is very influential, in that it creates model penal codes which often serve as the basis for the real-life laws under which we live.   The Institute created the "modern" death penalty system that the US Supreme Court endorsed in 1976.  But a report detailing factors we are…

January 5, 2010

Update

This is the first posting in the Desi Spotlight Series, a series of blogs that will spotlight organizations and individuals of South Asian origin living in the United States that are making a difference in human rights in South Asia. For the interview with the President of the Indian Muslim Council – USA, Mr Rasheed Ahmed, see full entry. Desi is a term used by South Asians in this country to refer to themselves and means roughly, people.  For example, I would say that I am a desi, albeit born and raised in the United States.  The first organization profiled…

January 4, 2010

Update

We sent this moving message from Sting earlier today to our email list.  In light of the recent startling developments in Iran, we’re also sharing it with you here on our blog: Dear Supporter, I was shocked to hear reports that Iranian security forces arrested 29 mothers and their supporters who were silently mourning children killed in post-election violence this summer. These Mourning Mothers gather peacefully each week to call for an end to widespread human rights abuses and justice for their dead children. The disturbing news of their arrest brought to mind profound memories of the Mothers of the…

December 29, 2009

Update

Today, we're premiering our video homage to supporters who help spread human rights stories far and wide! YouTube is featuring our new, animated video "The Power of Words" on its homepage with an introduction by actor, Morgan Freeman. The video demonstrates why the messages you send and the petitions you sign really matter.  It is your words that remind violators of human rights, in countries like Zimbabwe, China and Iran, that their actions are unacceptable and opposed by millions. Check out the video and then help us get the word out about human rights by emailing 5 friends about it.…

December 27, 2009