HAPPENING NOW: Russian Journalist Charged Under “Gay Propaganda” Law

February 12, 2014 at 12:30 PM

Meet Elena Klimova, the latest victim of Russia’s new “gay propaganda” law (Photo Credit: Private).

She saved lives. So why does Russia want to punish Elena Klimova?

Because she created a safe space for LGBTI teens in a country rife with homophobia.

Elena is a journalist and founder of Children 404, a popular online resource that supports LGBTI teens in Russia. It’s a space for teenagers to share their stories, get support and obtain advice from experienced psychologists.

Elena’s Children 404 has prevented teenagers from committing suicide and running away from home. She’s easing their isolation and making their world a little better, right?

Not according to Russian authorities. Russian authorities are going to absurd lengths to punish people and defenders of LGBTI human rights. They want to shut Children 404 down, and have charged Elena with “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations.”

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6 of President Vladimir Putin’s Most Oppressive Laws

By The Editors

January 15, 2014 at 7:46 AM

NOTE: This blog post has been updated in several places for clarity.

The Olympics are right around the corner. But while Shaun White practices his Double McTwist 1260 and Ashley Wagner works on nailing a pearl spin, President Vladimir Putin is perfecting the art of repression.

Since he was inaugurated as President of the Russian Federation, Putin has orchestrated a number of changes in Russian law effectively criminalizing any criticism of him and Russian security forces. The new Draconian laws are having a terrible impact.

With Sochi fast approaching, here are 6 of Putin’s most oppressive laws. But unlike White and Wagner’s routines, we’re not looking forward to seeing these at the Olympics:

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Chelsea Manning: Which One Doesn’t Belong?

By Justin Mazzola

November 19, 2013 at 2:00 PM

It seems clear Manning’s sentence serves only one purpose: to make an example of a soldier who only intended to show the true costs of war (Photo credit should read Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images).

Let’s all take a trip down memory lane to our Sesame Street days and engage in the following exercise of “Which One Doesn’t Belong”:

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A Tremendous Opportunity: How Technology Is Helping Human Rights Defenders

By Samir Goswami

November 11, 2013 at 3:50 PM

Norma Cruz has been struggling against gender-based violence in Guatemala for years at great personal risk to herself (Photo Credit: Amnesty International).

For social justice activists, the speed with which news now crosses the globe creates a tremendous opportunity to respond to human rights issues as they emerge. We can now find out about and alert the world to abuses almost as they happen, and people can act immediately to support human rights defenders and others on the front lines of crises.

However, the sheer number of people who struggle for the most basic human rights can be overwhelming. Although it is easy to get dismayed, we must stay heartened that we can make a difference in an individual’s life even from thousands of miles away.

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An Invisible Threat: How Technology Can Hurt Human Rights Defenders

By Guest Writer

November 11, 2013 at 3:15 PM

In October 2012, Amnesty International met with activists and technologists from around the world in Nairobi, Kenya to explore the opportunities created and risks of using digital tools in human rights work (Photo Credit: Amnesty International).

By Tanya O’Carroll, Technology & Human Rights Project Officer and Danna Ingleton, Individuals & Communities at Risk Research & Policy Advisor

All over the world, individuals who speak up for and defend the rights of their communities often endure unspeakable acts of violence for doing so. At the Front Line Dublin Platform for Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) this month, we heard testimony from numerous HRDs who have been threatened, defamed, attacked, injured and tortured in retribution for their human rights activities. It quickly became clear that the key lesson of this gathering is to share what can best be described as survival strategies – behaviors, approaches and interventions that act as a counter balance.

One striking theme this year was in relation to how technology (phones, computers, cameras, social media, software, and the list goes on) has become deeply entwined with the work of defenders and the types of threats that they face. This post explores some of those stories and asks questions about how we can support a safer environment for HRDs in their use of tech.

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Ten Years After Khodorkovsky’s Arrest, Repression in Russia Continues

By Samir Goswami

October 25, 2013 at 8:00 AM

Since Putin was re-elected, Russians have witnessed a further erosion of their rights (Photo Credit: Vasily Maximov/AFP/Getty Images).

When a government cracks down on human rights, the rule of law is degraded.

On Oct. 7, Amnesty International USA and the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis hosted a discussion with Daniel Feldman and Pavel Ivlev about the erosion of rights in Russia and the impact it has on the legal fabric of Russian society.

Both men worked with Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an Amnesty prisoner of conscience, who was once one of Russia’s most successful businessmen and CEO of Yukos Oil Company.

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In Honduras, Posting a Blog Can Come with Jail Time

By Larry Ladutke

October 10, 2013 at 11:30 AM

Members of the COPINH during a demonstration. Three members of the COPINH, Bertha Cáceres, Tomás Gómez and Aureliano Molina, are currently jailed or on probation for a series of blog posts and speeches accusing the Honduran government and a hydro-electric company of violating their indigenous community’s land rights (Photo Credit: Orlando Sierra/AFP/Getty Images).

In mid-September, Amnesty International issued an Urgent Action calling on the Honduran government to drop its unfounded charges against Bertha Cáceres, Tomás Gómez and Aureliano Molina of the Civic Council of the Indigenous and Popular Organizations of Honduras (COPINH). The organization warned, “If they are imprisoned, Amnesty International will consider them prisoners of conscience.”

First, thank you to everyone who took action! Unfortunately, however, the judge did not listen to us. On September 20, 2013, she ordered Cáceres to be held in prison. She also ordered Gómez and Molina placed on probation.

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5 Things You Need To Know About the Gezi Protests

By Howard Eissenstat

October 2, 2013 at 9:24 AM

At least eight thousand injured, at least five confirmed deaths (with strong evidence linking at least three of these deaths to police abuse), many thousands detained.

As this powerful video produced by Amnesty International shows, the human cost of the Turkish government’s decision to suppress peaceful protests this past summer was immense.

In a major report issued today, Amnesty International has given compelling and comprehensive documentation of these events, providing detailed evidence of Turkish authorities suppression of freedom of assembly and expression.

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My Fiancé Will Spend His 30th Birthday in a Vietnamese Prison

By Guest Writer

September 16, 2013 at 8:00 AM

By Huong Nguyen

5 years,
your voice I couldn’t hear
your smile I couldn’t see
My heart filled with memories
and the shared moonlight, only…

I write these words with extreme sadness, as of September 5, I know my fiancé, Nguyen Tien Trung, a prisoner of conscience in Viet Nam, is not being released as part of the amnesty issued by the Vietnamese government to mark National Day (September 2^nd). Only 5 “national security” prisoners were released on this occasion, and only one of them is a well-known dissident – blogger Phan Thanh Hai (aka Anhba SG) of the Freelance Journalist Club – whose term of imprisonment would end in one month anyway.

Trung’s parents visited him on September 5 for a short 30 minutes, during which Trung only had time to list the books he wanted his parents to send him. As if he had no anticipation of an early release. Yet, September 16, his birthday, is approaching. And it is still difficult for me to think of Trung having to spend his 30^th birthday in prison.

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#FreedomHack: From the Ground in Mexico City

By Kathryn R. Striffolino

August 22, 2013 at 8:48 AM

Kathryn Striffolino (center) at #Freedomhack in Mexico City (Photo Credit: Amnesty International).

This is the first post of a series: “Technology for Human Rights Protection” with new entries being published every week or so. We will be discussing the latest innovations for human rights protection and how the human rights community writ large is or can be utilizing science, technology and open innovation for human rights defense. Posts primarily by @katiestriff and @tanyaocarroll, who work in the intersection between technology, science and human rights defense for @Amnesty and @amnestyonline, with the occasional colleague and guest contributor.

The weekend of August 11 and 12 was unprecedented. Technology start-ups, NGOs, journalists, human rights defenders and technologists joined forces for good at the #Freedomhack. We connected to one another digitally; one group located in Washington, D.C. and the other in Mexico City and we collaboratively worked on identifying and developing secure digital reporting methods for journalists and human rights. In Mexico as you may know, it is a very complicated and extremely deadly environment for reporters of any sort.

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Human Rights Now Blog

Tag Archives: Internet Censorship

6 of President Vladimir Putin’s Most Oppressive Laws

Chelsea Manning: Which One Doesn’t Belong?

5 Things You Need To Know About the Gezi Protests

My Fiancé Will Spend His 30th Birthday in a Vietnamese Prison