dissidents

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2009 a year of living dangerously as autocrats target activists

Authoritarian regimes have deliberately targeted and intensified attacks against human rights and democracy advocates over the past year, according to the annual review of Human Rights Watch. [read full story]

Europe betrays democratic ideal over Cuba – Havel

By appeasing Cuba’s communist regime, Europe is betraying the humanist ideal at the core of its political identity, writes former dissident Vaclav Havel.
“One of the fundamental pillars of Europe’s political architecture is a strong and enduring belief in the universal validity of equal, universal, and inalienable human rights,” he says. But, 20 years on from [read full story]

Obama’s speech in Egypt – spot the democracy indicators

President Barack Obama’s speech in Egypt next week will need to balance strategic and diplomatic considerations with a clear commitment to democratic reform in the region, writes J. Scott Carpenter. But Obama is likely, perhaps even compelled, to prioritize economic and security concerns over democracy promotion, writes William Galston, a board member of the National [read full story]

Democratizing Belarus

Democratizing Belarus

Democratizing Europe’s last dictatorship will curb the Kremlin’s aggression in its periphery and encourage democratic forces within Russia, writes Jeffrey Gedmin, president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
As economic crisis threatens to fray the social pact underpinning Alexander Lukashenko’s hard-line regime and economic relations with Russia strained, the democratic West should eschew short-term realpolitik and ramp [read full story]

Resisting authoritarianism – dissidents testify in Geneva

Resisting authoritarianism – dissidents testify in Geneva

Leading democracy and human rights activists feature in a global webcast this weekend to provide worldwide participation in the Geneva Summit for Democracy, Tolerance and Human Rights. The summit, held on the eve of the discredited U.N. Racism Conference, will include contributions on “Resisting Authoritarianism: Human Rights, Democracy and the Dissident Movement” from Egyptian dissident [read full story]

Coddling Cuba?

Coddling Cuba?

Excellent op-ed in the Washington Post today berating those pushing for a shift in policy towards Cuba without linking such changes to democracy and human rights. It observes that the congressional pressure could undermine President Obama’s promise that “liberty” will be at the center of his administration’s Cuba policy and that the lifting of the [read full story]

Policy review prompts solidarity with Cuba’s democrats

Policy review prompts solidarity with Cuba’s democrats

Democracy and human rights groups are urging the Congressional Black Caucus, which yesterday met with Fidel Castro, to press Cuba’s communist authorities on the welfare of the island’s political prisoners and democracy activists, including Afro-Cuban prisoner of conscience Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet and civil rights activist Jorge Luis Perez Garcia, aka “Antunez.”
The World Movement for [read full story]

Syria: engagement at expense of democratic dissidents?

Syria: engagement at expense of democratic dissidents?

 
“The winds of change coming out of Washington have rekindled talk of liberalization and reform in Damascus,” claims Joshua Landis, writing in the April edition of Carnegie’s Arab Reform Bulletin. He cites proposed economic reforms and President Bashar al-Assad’s latest promises of political reforms that would expand political participation, including “creating another chamber in addition [read full story]

EU commissioner criticized for snubbing Cuba’s civil society

EU commissioner criticized for snubbing Cuba’s civil society

The European Union’s development and humanitarian aid chief has come under fire after failing to meet with independent groups during his recent visit to Cuba. It is the policy of the European Council, the EU institution representing member states, that dialogue with Cuba should include the democratic opposition and civil society.
But Louis Michel, the European [read full story]

UN body rules Aung San Suu Kyi’s detention illegal under domestic and international law

UN body rules Aung San Suu Kyi’s detention illegal under domestic and international law

The continued detention of Burma’s democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi is illegal and violates both domestic and international law, a UN body has ruled. Suu Kyi has spent 13 of the last 19 years under house arrest.
“The Working Group considers that Ms Aung San Suu Kyi’s continued placement under house arrest is arbitrary and [read full story]

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