human rights

If you can hear this you’re a public nuisance

Julien — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 11:11:11 +0100

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.

Villagers forced out of their homes by riot police

Julien — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 17:21:03 +0100

By our regional editor in China, Zhang.

In less than four years the village of Taiping in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province in south-west China, has seen over 70% of its residents expelled by the authorities. Despite fervent protest on the part of the inhabitants, there are now only 300 houses where 1000 used to stand, and still the project continues. The most recent development in the programme has seen 33000 square metres of collectively-owned land sold - in secret - to developers for 1.2m RMB (€115,000). This amount is considered to be extremely low for such an area and, furthermore, the villagers who live on the land will receive almost nothing from the payment.

Forced out of their homes by riot police last Friday afternoon, two of the residents ended up in hospital - one of them 82 years old. Cut off from electricity and water by the government, the entire village had slowly become more and more inhabitable every day.

And the villagers' part of the deal? Three percent of the payment divided between all of them. Any right to complain? Petitioners against the plans were either imprisoned or silenced.

Taser, a non-lethal weapon?

Julien — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 14:56:50 +0100

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.
Post your questions on his profile page.

Meet Jane : prostitute, mother and model

Julien — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 23:02:00 +0100

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.

Pakistani students cover protests on campus, continued…

Julien — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 14:37:00 +0100

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 bizarre interrogation of a blogger

Julien — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 14:52:00 +0200

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.

Roukana was arrested on 25 October outside her home and in front of her children. She was then interrogated by the Syrian secret services, specifically on the subject of a critical commentary of the regime posted on her blog. She was released three hours later.

She tells of the conditions of her arrest, which she compares with a kidnapping; and her interrogation by the secret services.

Post your questions to Marc Daou and Roukana Hamour

Chinese petitioners, driven out of Beijing, take refuge online

Zhang — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 13:55:00 +0200

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 their case to be heard by the petition office. Some people have been waiting for over ten years. 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...

Post your questions to Zhang on her profile page