Stories about Human Rights from June, 2007
Bahrain: The Tale of a ‘Legal Slave’
No longer a tax haven, people in Bahrain are fuming at the introduction of a one per cent tax to benefit an Unemployment Fund. Bloggers caught on the bug and are ranting and fuming on their blogs in this report by Ayesha Saldanha. In other related matters, bloggers talk about a new law which bans workers from working between noon and 4pm in the summer heat, lavish weddings and the forgotten 'martyrs' of the civil unrest which rocked Bahrain in the 90s.
Palestine: Daily Misery
Palestinian Haitham Sabbah posts videos produced and published by B’tselem (The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories) showing the misery Palestinians undergo.
Egypt: GVO Wins Praise
Global Voices Online has been cited by Baha'i Faith in Egypt for linking to it and for “reporting on several other pressing human rights issues in Egypt.”
Russia, Sweden: Lavrov and Georgian Wine
Vilhelm Konnander reports that the Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov was drinking Georgian wine banned in Russia during his recent visit to Sweden.
Eastern & Central Europe: Feral's Back; Czech Lustration
Illyrian Gazette posts an update on the fate of Feral Tribune (it's back and financially secure), and writes about lustration and music in the Czech Republic.
Bosnia & Herzegovina: Miroslav Lajcak
Balkanizer posts a lengthy and detailed post on the legacy of the outgoing High Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina: “[…] an unrefined and unedited thinking about the departure of the old High Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina (Christian Schwarz-Schilling) and the arrival of new HR – Slovakian diplomat Miroslav Lajcak.”
Russia: Rewriting History
Kosmopolit blogs about Putin's attempts to re-write Russian history.
Poland: BBC on Lustration
Dr. Sean's Diary links to a BBC program on “on lustration and decommunization issues in Poland.”
China: Luxurious Buildings and Shanxi Bricks
CCTV News investigation team asked the Tianya community to submit information concerning extravagant and luxurious building in China (zh). There were many submission. Cha Jing highlighted one of the comments: Without building all these, where to sell all those bricks (produced by slave labour) in Shanxi? (zh)
China: Victims of slave labour
Tan Weishan posted some photos of the victims of slave labour in Shanxi brick kiln, one of them lost his legs because of the supervisor abuse. He was dumped in the middle of the mountain in 2002. Eventhough he had won the court case and the brick kiln had to...
Syrian Blogsphere: Reform, Arab Nationalism and Travel
Why was a Syrian student blogger sued in the US? What should the Syrians do in Lebanon? Where is Arab Nationalism leading us to and what do you feel when you pack five cities into 11 days? These are some of the issues Syrian bloggers were talking about in this week's review by Yazan Badran.
Egypt: Freedom of Worship, Blogs to the Press, Anti-torture Campaigns Continue and More
In this week’s round-up from the Egyptian blogosphere, I am highlighting freedom of worship from two blog posts by Big Pharaoh and Baha’i Faith in Egypt, how an Egyptian blogger has started covering blogs for a weekly newspaper in Egypt, how anti-torture campaigns by bloggers extend to one of Egypt’s coastal cities and finally a technological tip by Greendata blog for Facebook users.
Bahamas: Crime and Punishment
Sidney Sweeting at WeblogBahamas.com is astonished at the lenient sentence imposed in the disturbing case of sexual abuse of a six-year-old girl: “If the Attorney General is successful in changing the sentence…perhaps that could be a start for the courts to send a message, with the help of Parliament, that...
Anguilla: Slave Labour?
As imported Indian labourers marched against unfair wages on a high-profile resort project, Corruption-free Anguilla writes: “Our government has lost its way. It was the compassion of the ordinary Anguillian that redeemed our government today.”
Russia, Belarus: Blaming Putin and Lukashenko
Adam Goodman of Being Had admits that life is tough in Belarus and Russia, but disagrees with La Russophobe‘s perspective: “[…] I refuse to believe, just as I have since I started writing about Belarus, that it is appropriate to place the blame solely on Lukashenka or Putin.”
Nepal: Trafficking and Sex Slavery
Nepal Monitor on combating trafficking and sex slavery in Nepal.
Russia: CNN International's “Eye on Russia”
Sean's Russia Blog is disappointed that it's CNN International – not CNN in the United States – that's broadcasting a whole week of daily half-hour series called “Eye on Russia: The New Dawn.”
Egypt: Campaign Against Female Genital Mutilation
Egypt is launching a national campaign against female circumcision (Genital Mutilation) writes Ibn Al Dunya.
Serbia, Russia: “What About the Russians?”
Jasmina Tešanović guest-blogs at Boing Boing about what may appear as Serbia's misguided trust in Russia: “Back in 1999, Russians didn’t veto the bombing of Serbia. The Russians are using the Kosovo issue in order to reclaim ex-Soviet territories with Russian populations. Serbs know that the Russians have their own...
Russia: “Completely Different Other Russias”
There was no police "overreaction" during the opposition's latest Dissenters' March in Moscow - possibly, because the organizers decided not to follow up the rally on Pushkinskaya Square with the actual marching. Everyone made their speeches - or so it seemed, until the blogosphere offered a not-so-pleasant revelation: opposition activist Maria Gaidar was prevented from addressing the crowd by Eduard Limonov, leader of the National Bolshevik Party and Garry Kasparov's close ally in the Other Russia anti-government coalition.
CIA facility in Tunisia?
From his prison cell in Bizerte (65km north of Tunis), The Tunisian prisoner Ramzi Bettibi managed to smuggle a very alarming letter that found its way on to the Internet (available in French). Ramzi is serving a four-year sentence at Bizerte for copying, onto a forum board he moderated, an...
