China is “a country where ugly and horrible events beyond human imagination still take place.”

That was Ran Yunfei’s last entry on his microblog before the writer and Charter 08 signatory disappeared into the clutches of the security services.

The …

With Syria and Nicaragua pressing for a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council, the body is becoming increasingly contested terrain between democratic and authoritarian actors.

The Obama administration recently announced that it will seek a second term on the …

Two prominent Vietnamese dissidents were arrested outside a Hanoi court yesterday, along with up to 29 Catholic activists, during “one of the Communist nation’s most politically charged cases in years.”

Lawyer Cu Huy Ha Vu (left) – one of Vietnam’s …

The arrest and disappearance of Ai Weiwei (left), China’s most famous modern artist and a vocal critic of the Communist authorities, marks a new and more sinister phase in the regime’s repression of dissident voices.

“If they are willing to …

Pro-democracy protests continue to erupt in Syria, a day after President Bashar Al Assad asked former agriculture minister Adel Safar to form a new government Assad selected a new governor for the troubled region of Daraa.

The appointments were …

It has been described as “the most dangerous organization that the American people have never heard of” and as an authoritarian international, a members’ club for Eurasia’s illiberal regimes.

But while it claims to be a cooperative network …

Democracy and human rights groups are warning that Cambodia’s draft law to regulate non-governmental organizations threatens to undermine freedom of association and expression, confirming the country’s authoritarian drift.

The government made slight amendments to an earlier draft following objections from …

The optimism prompted by the Arab awakening should not blind us to the resilience of authoritarian regimes and the intimidating, precarious circumstances in which democracy advocates and human rights defenders continue to work. Just as democrats worldwide are drawing inspiration …

Forget Libya – the course and outcome of the Arab awakening will be determined in Riyadh and Cairo, writes Ray Takeyh, a Mideast specialist at the Council on Foreign Relations.

“Throughout the post-colonial period, Egypt has established the political …

Twenty years after seceding from the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan is now a beacon of democracy and stability, claims Erlan Idrissov, the country’s ambassador to Washington:

As an obvious achievement in this on-going quest for democratization, Kazakhstan served last year …