human rights

The use of a high-pitched alarm to drive British teenagers away from public places is under dispute on the blogosphere after a campaign against the alarms was launched by the Children's Commissioner for England yesterday. The ‘mosquito' alarm which is so high-pitched that only young ears are able to pick it up has been installed by 3,500 shopkeepers and supermarkets in the UK since it was invented in 2005. Now, the ‘Buzz off' campaign says that the £500 product should be prohibited from use. Test your hearing to find out if you're a public nuisance here...

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Team Observers

Jade Bailey

One hundred villagers in south-west China were removed from their homes by a force of 300 riot police last Friday. Authorities ordered the armed force to evacuate the village so that they could hand over the land to developers who they had recently sold it to. The villagers have received almost nothing from the deal and most of them have ended up homeless as a result. They will inevitably follow in the path of tens of thousands of other Chinese individuals who are pursuing futile legal chases. See the video of the exiled villagers and read the commentary of a Chinese blogger, He Weihua. Read more...

The contributors

Zhang

He Weihua

Canada's federal police watchdog requested yesterday that authorities "immediately restrict" the use of Taser guns (electronic control devices). The news has refuelled debate over the use of the "non-lethal" weapon, which has been blamed for the death of a Polish immigrant killed in Vancouver airport on 14 October. The incident was filmed by a passenger who put the images online a few weeks later. Robert Dziekanski, the man we see in the video, died a few minutes after being shocked with a Taser. We have commentary from an Amnesty International representative, who condemns the abuse of the North American weapon, and from Tom Smith, co-founder of Taser. Read more.
Post your questions on his profile page.

Video filmed by a passenger on 14 October.

The contributors

Team Observers

Thomas Smith

Eulette Ewart

Material compiled by our regional editor for South America, Cristiano de Sa Fagundes.

Jane is a member of ‘Daspu’; a new brand making its mark in the fashion world of Rio. What distinguishes it from other designer brands? All the clothes are designed and produced by Brazilian prostitutes. The project is carried out by a local NGO, Davida ('of life') that defends the rights of sex workers in Rio de Janeiro. The name ‘Daspu’- ‘whores’ in Portuguese, was inspired by that of the department store in São Paulo: ‘Daslu’. A reference which was not to the taste of the store’s owners, who have taken the NGO to court. Read more...

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Cristiano de...

Jane Eloi

Report by Team Observers

President Pervez Musharraf announced on Thursday that the legislative elections will take place before 15 February. But the state of emergency stays in place and access to non-state television channels is still blocked. However, an online protest movement is gaining speed as increasing numbers of local internet users get involved. The Observers Team has compiled some of the material produced by these citizen journalists.

The contributors

Team Observers

Rehman Chughtai

Shan Rais

Adil Najam

Material compiled by our regional editor for the Middle-East, Marc Daou

Freedom of expression is kept under close supervision in Syria, and the internet is no exception to the rule. The latest example cites the case of Roukana Hamour, a family woman who ran for the last legislative elections to denounce the corruption and vote-catching of the authorities.

Post your questions to Marc Daou and Roukana Hamour

The contributors

Marc Daou

Roukana Hamour

Material compiled by Zhang, our editor for the Chinese region 

For hundreds of years the central authority in China has allowed citizens to file a petition if they feel a local official has wronged them. The citizen must go to Peking to ask for reparations related to expropriation, police brutality, and unjust verdicts, or to denounce corruption. Over the years, these thousands of dissatisfied people have formed a village in an area south of the capital, where they live sparsely, while waiting for their case to be heard by the petition office. Some of them have been waiting for over ten years.

Post your questions to Zhang on her profile page

However, the day before the seventeenth congress of the Communist Party, the authorities decided to get rid of the petitioners. On 12 October, police forces entered the petitioner village and expelled all its inhabitants. Now, keeping in mind the ancestral tradition of petitions, some petitioners use the Internet to air their grievances. For example...

The contributors

Zhang