Three pieces of legislation infringing on human rights marked the first few months of Putin’s presidency and attracted fierce criticism from leading human rights activists.

On June 9, 2012, changes to the federal law on assembly, rally, demonstration, and picketing came into force. They were initiated by the “United Russia” party and increased the fine for participating in “unsanctioned public meetings” by 150 times.  According to the introduced changes, each public gathering must be sanctioned in advance by local authorities. Individuals who initiate a peaceful assembly, rally, demonstration, or picketing without the authorities’ permission will pay a fine of up to 30,000 rubles (about 1,000 USD), and a civil servant will be fined for 40,000 rubles for the same “violation”. The fines rise dramatically if a public meeting obstructs the movement of vehicles or pedestrians or violates other “norms” established by the law.

Amnesty International states that it considers “ridiculous” the new provision in the law that allows public gatherings to be held only in “particular places designated by local authorities for public events”. John Dalhuisen, the director of Amnesty International’s Europe and Central Asia program, believes that isolation of participants in a designated zone where they cannot address those to whom they would like to express their protest is against the essence of the right to assemble. He further states that the law on public meetings is meant to prevent any political protests and curb free expression of thoughts that are different from the officially accepted point of view.

On July 13, State Duma, the lower chamber of Russia’s parliament adopted a law turning certain types of libel from administrative into criminal offense. Human Rights Watch advised that the international community call on President Putin not to sign the law because “criminal penalties for libel are regressive and out of step with international human rights law”. Just seven months earlier, President Medvedev ensured that libel is considered an administrative offense, a step which was praised by the Council of Europe.

Human Rights Watch is especially concerned with a provision in the law that makes libel against judges, jurors, prosecutors, and law enforcement officials subject to a fine of up to 2 million rubles (about 61,000 USD). It states that “Under international human rights law, the threshold for criticism of a public official is greater than for a private individual, and this provision could restrict legitimate criticism of public officials to an extent not permitted under international standards”.

On July 13, the State Duma also approved a law which was soon named the “smear campaign against NGOs” by leading human rights organizations. The notorious law requires NGOs receiving funding from abroad, financially or in kind, to register as “non-commercial organizations performing the functions of a foreign agent”. The changes apply specifically to those NGOs that are engaged in political activities, that is in the law’s wording, if they attempt to influence decision making by public authorities in order to change public policies pursued by them or if they attempt to affect public opinion for the same purpose. Amnesty International believes that such a broad definition of political activities includes any human rights organization and most civil society organizations. The penalties for a failure to register an organization as “performing the functions of a foreign agent” are severe and range from a fine of up to 1 million rubles for organizations to imprisonment of certain NGO members.

A notion of a “foreign agent” has strongly negative associations in the Russian language, as Amnesty International pointed out. The fact that NGOs registered as “performing the functions of foreign agents” are obliged to state that on all their publications, whether available in hard copy or via the Internet, means that the law also aims to delegitimize the work of such organizations by making them appear as serving some foreign powers.

With regard to these three important legislative changes that happened in just two months, United Nations human rights chief, Navi Pillay, urged the Russia’s government “to avoid taking further steps backwards to a more restrictive era,” referring to the more than 70 years of communist rule.

Sources

HRW :

http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/07/16/russia-criminal-libel-law-blow-free-expression

http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/07/17/president-putins-first-60-days

AI :

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/russia-putin-urged-reject-law-restricting-right-peaceful-assembly-2012-06-07

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR46/029/2012/en/242fadd2-c20c-4cce-b78c-071edd1c142a/eur460292012en.html

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/russia-end-smear-campaign-against-ngos-2012-07-13

http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/russia-end-smear-campaign-against-ngos-2012-07-13

Russian sources :

http://www.rg.ru/2012/06/09/mitingi-dok.html

Other :

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/07/18/227107.html

Earlier this year, leading international Human Rights organizations reported the purportedly illegal detention and mistreatment of a group of Somali asylum seekers in Ukraine. On January 19, 2012, Amnesty International (AI) announced that about 60 Somali nationals, including 20 children, went on a hunger strike to protest against their “pointless” detention, one of many in a row for some detainees, at the Zhuravichi Migrant Accommodation Centre in northwestern Ukraine. According to AI’s later reports, there were also 6 Eritreans among the protestors. The 60 Somalis are part of a larger group of 125 Somali citizens detained at the center since January 6th.  Human Rights Watch (HRW) reports that around 80 of the Somalis notified UNHCR of their intention to apply for asylum in Ukraine and that the Somalis’ detention deprived them of the opportunity to file an application for a refugee status or appeal a rejection of their asylum applications by the State Migration Service.

AI believes that the detention of Somali nationals “for the purposes of deportation”, as stated in official papers, is pointless because according to records, no Somali or Eritrean citizens have ever been deported from Ukraine. AI stresses, “Everyone knows – the police, the ministry of internal affairs and the Somalis themselves – that they won’t ever be deported”. The reason is that Ukraine, as party to a few international conventions on human rights, is obliged not to return anyone to any country if there is a threat of serious human rights violations for the returnees. What usually happens to Somalis is that they are first detained for being illegally present in the country for up to a year, then released and given five days to reach the Somali embassy. Since there is no Somali embassy in the country, the former detainees are soon re-arrested and put in a detention center again for another year. HRW confirms this scenario for the majority of the detainees. AI concludes that since there is no prospect of deportation, detention “for the purposes of deportation” is “arbitrary and unlawful”.

What makes the situation even worse is that the Somali detainees maintain they were blatantly abused and tortured while at the detention facilities. For example, AI reports that some said “they had been placed in an isolation unit without a bed for several days, and that they received anonymous emails and phone calls containing death threats and racist abuse”. During the hunger strike, also according to AI, security forces attempted to end the strike by forcing the protesters to eat and filming them whilst eating. HRW points out that the Ukrainian authorities have previously been found responsible for torture under European human rights law by forcibly feeding detainees. It also adds that during the strike “a group of approximately 21 police officers, masked and armed with batons and tear gas,” came to the detention center to search detainees’ rooms and while searching hit some of the hunger strikers with batons. HRW sent a letter to the Ukrainian authorities urging immediate release of the detainees.

This case reveals a few of the many problems in the Ukraine’s legal framework and law enforcement. In a report in 2010, HRW found that “migration detention in Ukraine is often arbitrary and detainees do not enjoy reliable access to a judge or other authority, or access to legal representation to challenge their detention”. Besides, the report claimed that “asylum applications from detainees are frequently not processed”, “many claims are rejected as manifestly unfounded”, and that “a migrant or asylum seeker may be detained without any individual assessment of such necessity”.

Photo source: http://www.migrantsrights.org.uk/news/2012/uk-supporters-ukraine-refugee-protest-picket-london-embassy-solidarity

The aims of the project:

After corresponding with the Initiative Middle and Eastern Europe  for the Speak Up for Human Rights! New Media! campaign, independent film makers Johannes Franke and Sebastion Hasse decided to form a documentary team to follow the project. The documentary follows a human rights seminar uniting 30 young adults from Germany, Ukraine and Belarus for three one-week seminars, in which they discuss the state of human rights in general and in their countries. During this time participants learn about the past and current state of human rights, and importantly how they can help advocate for those rights. All the participants come from very different political and social backgrounds, and it is hoped through the project that the participants will not only learn from one another but find a way to unite in the struggle and fight for human rights.

At the end of the project, Johannes and Sebastian plan to release a 30-45 minute documentary which chronicles the project and portrays diverse group of participants, their interests, goals and their lives in Central and Eastern Europe, and the limitations they must face.

The film intents to follow the project and its participants; How do they see their joint future, what are their desires, hopes and visions for their countries? What kind of external powers are they facing in their daily struggle to maintain their grounds and their human rights? And how do they relate to each other?

The filmmakers hope to create a very informative and innovative documentary that will be available to many around the world. However, these efforts are costly and the crew need every penny they can get to contribute to the project. To find out more about the project or to donate select the following link:

To meet other fans and supporters of this project visit their facebook page. Take part in the development of this film.
http://www.facebook.com/speakup4humanrights

Who are the filmmakers:

Sebastian Hasse studied computer science and drama. He ended up in the film business over producing interactive DVDs. While he works as an computer scientist half of the time, he devotes the rest of his time to making film projects. Among others he produces the intercultural web-comedy-series „Points Of You“: www.pointsofyou.eu. In the board of the non-profit organisation “Kunstwandel e.V.i.G.” he engages in the support of the free filmmakers and art scene in Berlin: www.kunstwandel-berlin.de.

Johannes Franke is cameraman, cutter, and director as well as an actor, which makes him a film maker all through. His most recent movie EWE successfully ran at the “up-and-coming” film festival in Hanover and at the „Youki“ in Wels (Austria). In the past years he mostly worked on documentaries such as a short documentary on a gestures singing workshop for deaf children with Rolf Zuckowski and a long-playing documentary on the generation of “young entrepreneurs”. More information on his work as a filmmaker on: www.gone-astray-films.de – and on his work as an actor on: www.johannesfranke.de

Lara Sielmann studies Creative Writing and Cultural Journalism. She is working as a freelance journalist, production manager and as assistant for miscellaneous cultural projects such as: litradio, Edition Pächterhaus,100 Wort!, documentary “Gründerbus” and is the co-editor of Landpartie 2010, Kein Katalog.

They are lent support by Sophia Gross (second camera in Ukraine and camera assistance www.lights-n-arts.de) and Elisabeth Wolf (second camera in Germany).

Turkmenistan, a post-Soviet state in Central Asia, has appeared in the Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International news recently. Information on human rights in Turkmenistan is scarce, because the country is known to impose severe limits on international human rights monitoring. According to Amnesty International, the authorities have denied international non-governmental human rights organizations requests to visit the country, including the Amnesty International own repeated requests. But some progress has been achieved recently.

The Human Rights Watch reports that in March 2012, the Human Rights Committee, a UN monitoring body consisting of 18 independent experts, scrutinized Turkmenistan’s rights record as part of its mandate to review governments’ compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It notes that although Turkmenistan has been a party to the Covenant since 1997, it only submitted its initial report to the committee in 2010. So, the review was the committee’s first opportunity to scrutinize the Turkmen government’s record.
The review was held in New York and was organized a direct exchange between the committee and a delegation of Turkmen government officials over two days. The committee announced its observations publicly on March 30, 2012, at the conclusion of its three-week session.

Some of the areas of concern emphasized by the committee are:

- Turkmen government’s longstanding denial of access to the country for independent human rights monitors, including no fewer than 10 UN rapporteurs, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and nongovernmental organizations, through its “refusal to grant entry visas to international human rights organizations.”

- repression of free speech and civil society. According to the committee, the government “systematically does not respect the right to freedom of expression,” “harass[es] and intimidate[s] journalists and human rights defenders,” and “monitors the use of the internet and blocks access to some websites.”

- torture and ill-treatment, specifically “at increased reports of torture and ill-treatment in places of detention, where it is often used to extract confessions from accused persons,” and the government’s denial of access to places of detention to international human rights monitors.

- violation of the right to freedom of movement through 1) restrictions on “the exit and entry into [the country] by certain individuals who are on the list of individuals under State surveillance,” and 2) “the system of mandatory registration at the place of residence, which is a prerequisite for residence, employment, acquisition of real estate and access to health services.”

- the Law on Public Associations, which “severely restricts freedom of association,” forcing associations to “undergo cumbersome administrative processes for registration,” and containing “onerous obligations on associations to report to authorities.”

-  the use of child labor in cotton harvesting.

- an overly restrictive law on religious organizations, providing “for the compulsory registration of religious associations and similar entities.”

-  criminalization of homosexuality.

- the “alleged use of a forced assimilation policy of ‘Turkmenisation,’ which seriously reduces opportunities for ethnic minorities in the fields of employment, education and political life,” and the “limited access of ethnic minorities to employment in the public sector and in decision-making bodies.”

The meeting in New York and the resulting review may mark a turning point inTurkmenistan’s government attitude to human rights organizations and their work. Although it is not clear whether the government will take any definitive action regarding the review’s findings, the first step has been taken.

Amnesty International

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR61/002/2012/en/f67cbdeb-a287-441b-9b4b-9bac2d5fd12e/eur610022012en.html

Human Rights Watch

http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/03/30/turkmenistan-damning-un-report-shows-need-urgent-action

A recent news report by Human Rights Watch calls attention to the critical political situation in Hungary and the resulting tensions between the state’s ruling party and a few European political bodies. According to HRW, Orbán’s ruling Fidesz party is “using its super-majority in the parliament, spent its two years in office ramming through a new constitution that includes discriminatory provisions and other new laws that undermine media freedom, judicial independence, and the rights of religious minorities.”

On March 20, the Council of Europe’s advisory body on constitutional affairs – the Venice Commission – published a scathing report on recent developments in the country. In particular, the report says that changes to judicial appointment procedures, moves to force judges into retirement, and vesting power to assign cases in a single individual, threaten judicial independence and the right to a fair trial itself.  The Hungarian government did not offer any explanation except for saying that the translations of the laws may be incorrect.  It ignored the Venice Commission’s criticism of Hungary’s new constitution last year.

Amnesty International reports that in December 2011, Viviane Reding, the European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, raised concerns with the Hungarian government about specific portions of the Constitution.  But this human rights organization is concerned that the European Commission’s analysis has been too focused on technical shortcomings while ignoring the wider negative impact on human rights caused by the new laws.

The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, a non-profit human rights watchdog, released a fact sheet that resulted from the meeting of Hungarian NGOs with the rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Venice Commission in February. This document summarizes the concerns raised by the participants of the meeting, and presents in a well-structured and organized way the threats that the new laws and regulations pose for human rights in Hungary.

The facts sheet’s major claim is that new laws disrupt the system of checks and balances. It substantiates this statement by examining the impact of the new rules on the Constitutional Court, administration of courts and standing of judges, prosecution service, mandate of the Data Protection Commissioner, criminal policy, rights of members of the private pension scheme, protection of families and church freedoms. Notably, the fact sheet starts with accusing the ruling party of illegitimacy: “The Fundamental Law is the sole product of the governing political party and has been adopted by the governing majority without the support of any other political force. The governing majority has earlier removed the provisions from the old Constitution that would have forced them to seek consensus with the opposition in this regard.”

The Human Rights Watch pointed out that on January 17, the European Commission started legal action, known as ‘infringement proceedings’, against Hungary over the judicial appointments, the independence of the central bank, and data-protection regulation. The Hungarian government has until 7 April to provide further clarification or face action in the European Court of Justice.

Human Rights Watch

http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/03/28/hungarys-downward-slide-rights-requires-stronger-eu-action

Amnesty International

http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/news-item/eu-must-press-hungary-to-respect-human-rights-norms

Hungarian Civil Liberties Union

http://tasz.hu/files/tasz/imce/2011/hungary_ngo_fact_sheets_20120224.pdf

http://tasz.hu/en/political-freedoms/hungarian-ngos-met-rapporteurs-council-europe

A recent series of articles on corruption in Russia’s education system has attracted my attention. Most of the articles try to estimate the bribes annual turnover or quote officials from the Ministry of Education on the measures they take to combat corruption. For example, according to the Russian online newspaper Nezavisimaya (“Independent”), “Experts estimate the capacity of the bribes market in the education system at 500 million dollars.” However, it may be interesting to learn about the issue from the students’ perspective.

I have collected a few students’ accounts of their experiences in Russian institutions of higher education:

“A few days before the exam I realized that a few people from my group (In Russian universities students attend classes with a group of other students majoring in the same discipline) are planning to pay the professor a certain amount of money to get good grades without taking the exam. I asked them how they were going to do this. They said they came up to the professor after class one at a time, and asked her “if it was possible to not take the exam.” The professor, from their words, replied that “it will cost correspondingly.” So excellent was worth 5 thousand rubles, or about 170 USD, and good was estimated at 4 thousand rubles, or about 135 USD. Short after the exam was over and the professor was grading the group’s exams, they, one by one, went to her office and returned with excellent and good.”

“After I had been admitted to my university, on the day of signing the agreement at the dean’s office, my parents and I had a conversation with the dean. I was granted a merit-based scholarship covering the cost of tuition. The dean asked if my family could make a “small donation” to the university and named the sum of 50,000 rubles, or a little less than 2,000 USD. My family couldn’t afford such a donation: 50,000 rubles is the cost of a year’s tuition at my university, and I applied for the merit scholarship precisely because my family wouldn’t be able to pay my tuition (Russian universities do not offer need-based financial aid, only orphans are guaranteed financial aid). When we said we can’t afford that much, she started bargaining with us. We clearly felt the pressure to make this “voluntary” donation and ended up paying 15,000 rubles, or about 500 USD. I know we could refuse to pay anything, but I have heard a lot of stories from college students that if your family doesn’t make a donation to the university at the time of admission, it will reflect on your grades later. My parents did not want me to experience anything like that so they paid.”

“In one of my classes my group took a final exam. Professor came to class and said that everyone in my group got an F and would probably get an F as a final grade. We were surprised that everyone got the same grade, so we asked the professor to show us our exams. She refused. She gave us a list of books and said that if we bought those books “for the department” she would not take the final exam into account when giving final grades for the course. The books were expensive and some of us did not have money, but she insisted that we buy them. So we divided into smaller groups and shared the costs.”

“In my university professors do not take bribes, they only do at the time of admission. Merit-based scholarships are very limited for students applying to some departments. For example, when I applied, there were 7 scholarships available in my department. But applicants who take tutoring sessions with the Department Chair are silently guaranteed admission. So I took tutoring sessions with the professor. She tried to talk my parents into paying for my application essay because, as she said, no one gets a high grade for the composition if they write it themselves.”

“I lived in a village. In my high school I started thinking about applying to a university in the nearby big city. Once I went to the career fair in that city, where professors from different universities, including the one I had selected, offered tutoring to prospective students. I attended tutoring sessions with one of the professors I met there for about half a year. Then she introduced me to another professor from the same university who replaced her. When it was time to apply, that professor told me that if I paid him 20,000 rubles he would give me the admission test before the exam so that I could prepare in advance. I paid him for the test, got a high score on my admission exam and was admitted. I think everyone did the same.”

Although these personal experiences of students from different Russian cities reveal the fact that corruption inRussia’s education system is still an issue, some of the students I interviewed said they had never faced corruption in their universities. In fact, most of the students replied that they had never dealt with it. So corruption is not something that happens in every Russian college and to every Russian student, but it does happen in many educational institutions.

An interesting question about corruption inRussia’s higher education is who is more to blame for it – professors or students? In some situations, professors or representatives of a university demand that students give bribes, while in other situations students themselves offer bribes to faculty or admission committees’ officials. To say that Russian professors are underpaid would be to see only one root of the problem. The other one is the decaying morality of students and their parents. Of course there are cases when students give bribes out of fear, but the cases when students bribe professors because they are too lazy to study for an exam are also prevalent. So improving the morality of all – students, their families, and professors, as well as making teaching profession more respectable and well-paid are probably the only two ways Russia can curb corruption in its universities and raise the value of its education.

By: Anna Malinovskaya

Russian newspaper Sobesednik has called Russia’s recent parliament elections “the dirtiest in Russia’s history.”

German media company Deutsche Welle released an article titled “Independent observers: these are the dirtiest elections over the last decade.”

Independent observers from Deutsche Welle, registered many violations during the elections of December 4th.

One of such violations they noticed was that officials refused to show empty ballot boxes to independent observers, which is clearly against the law and made falsification easily possible.

Observers from the association of nonprofits protecting voters’ rights, “Golos”, said they saw buses that took people from one voting center to another so that the same people could vote more than once.

In one of the voting centers in Moscow, observers found a pile of ballots already filled out to have been thrown into the ballot box. In most such cases, the police asked independent observers to leave the voting center.

Almost none of the violations resulted in any adequate response from the police or the Central Election Commission.

In December of last year, one of my professors told me she had listened to national radio that morning and heard about a students’ protest against unfair elections in my home town Khabarovsk. Here’s a video of that protest which its participants named “My voice has been stolen.”

It is clear from the video that the protest documented was a peaceful demonstration of college students. Nevertheless, policemen grabbed random people from the crowd and forced them to get on the bus which, after having been filled, rode to the local police department.

This video from the protest in Khabarovsk also features a reporter from the federal tevelvision channel ,The First Channel, being arrested and taken away by the police. Russia’s federal law “The law about mass media” states in article 3 that “Censorship of mass media … is prohibited” and in article 25 that “Interfering of state officials … into dissemination of mass media products is prohibited.” Article 25 proclaims that “A reporter has the right to search, ask for, receive and disseminate information” and “to attend … places of mass protests and demonstrations.” Obviously, the reporter’s rights were violated as recorded in the video.

Other video clips from protests against unfair elections in Russian cities:

1. Khabarovsk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPGvMKO0y3g&feature=related

2. Krasnodar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMu7FPau1PY&feature=related

The crowd asks the police officer why a young man has been arrested

3. Tomsk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SolXN3UwgBc&feature=related

People shout “We want new elections!”

4. Nizhniy Novgorod

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uhX3g6ej9k&feature=related

People shout “New elections!” “We don’t want a party of bandits and thieves!”

5. Saint Petersburg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_XZjhZbYr8&feature=related

People shout “Freedom to political prisoners!”

One woman says: “Because they have stolen my voice in elections, that’s why I have come here. I have come to stand up for my interests. We need fair elections and a fair country so that the government serves its people not the vise versa.”

6. Syktyvkar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT145vh3y3A&feature=related

People shout “Police be with people, don’t serve the bandits.” The police arrest the man who was the first to shout out this slogan. Someone says that 31st article of the Constitution allows people to get together for a peaceful demonstration.

The man says: “Don’t give the police a reason to arrest you because that’s what they are waiting for. They have been going to dormitories the whole day today asking people not to come here. They said they will let people in to movie theaters and art galleries for free. They want us to be 20 or 30 people here but I think there are about 500 of us here now.”

7. Kirov

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PopI-Pi0O0o&feature=related

The voice in the video:

Are you disappointed?

-Yes

Are we sheep?

-No

We are people and we demand our rights. We demand that all Central Election Commission officials resign. We want new elections to State Duma ….Russiawithout Putin!”

Additional sources:

http://sobesednik.ru/politics/vybory-4-dekabrya-samye-gryaznye-v-istorii-rossii?nocache=1#comment-30043

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15577854,00.html

The sister of Feroz Ahmad Malik mourns his death as the funeral procession makes its way through the city of Srinagar. Feroz was killed when authorities indiscriminately opened fire on the city. His death led to massive protests in Srinagar.

The summer of 2010 produced Pakistan’s worst flooding in 80 years. More than 1,500 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been stranded by the flooding.

Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian street vendor set himself on fire on 17 December 2010, in protest to the confiscation of his wares and constant harassment by authorities. Bouazizi’s death became a catalyst for the Tunisian Revolution inciting demonstrations and riots throughout the region in protest to social and political issues. The public demonstrations eventually led president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali  to step down on 14 January 2011, after 23 years in power.

Officials in protective gear check for signs of radiation on children who are from the evacuation area near the Fukushima Daini nuclear plant in Koriyama, Japan, following the earthquake and tsunami in March.

Bibi Aisha an Afhan woman was disfigured after fleeing her husband’s home. Aisha’s father promised her to a Taliban fighter when she was 12 years old and she was married at 14. After being abused by her husband’s family, she fled to her parents home. In the middle of the night a group of men showed up at her parents house and forced them to give her up. The men took her into the mountains and cut off her nose and her ears, leaving her to die. Aisha was rescued by and taken to a shelter run by the aid organization Afghan Women For Women.

Police spray Ugandan opposition party leaders with colored water during demonstrations in the capital Kampala. President Museveni, in power for 25 years, accused the opposition of trying to spread chaos to avenge their defeat in February’s disputed presidential elections. The tactic of spraying paint at protesters is fairly common in Uganda, spraying protesters a distinctive color makes it difficult for people to escape the authorities.

A student demonstrator is punched by a police officer while participating in a protest in Chile. The student demonstrations in Chile began as a protest over the costs, profits, and fairness of higher education. They continued to attract other segments of Chilean society venting frustration over wages, health care, and other issues.

Pamphlets are hurled by workers and teachers of public education toward congressmen during a protest against a new law on public education during a session of the Chilean congress in Valparaiso on April 20, 2011.

The worst drought in 60 years hit the Horn of Africa region in 2011. Thousands of Somalians fled their homes in search of water, food and aid. Mihag Gedi Farah, a seven-month-old child, is held by his mother in a field hospital of the International Rescue Committee in the town of Dadaab, Kenya.

Women flee the bombing at Oslo. Anders Behring Breivik was the orchestrator behind the pair of attacks in Oslo that killed at least 92 people. Brevik left behind a detailed manifesto outlining his preparations and calling for a Christian war to defend Europe against the threat of Muslim domination.

Occupy Wall Street began September 17, 2011 in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City’s financial district. The movement has since sparked Occupy movements in numerous cities across the United States and the world. The protests are against social and economic inequality, high unemployment, greed and corruption. The slogan of the movement “We Are the 99%” refers to the growing disparity in income and wealth between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the population in the U.S.

After a peaceful demonstration at UC Davis, a video spread of an officer in riot gear blasting pepper spray into the faces of seated protesters. In the video, the officer a member of the university police force, sprays the seated students in a sweeping motion while walking back and forth.The incident incited a massive public outcry.

The national security team receives an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House on May 1. Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan on May 2, 2011 by a United States special forces military unit.

On 17 February 2011, major political protests began in Libya against Gaddafi’s government. By March of 2011 the country had descended into civil war. A rebel fighter celebrates as rebel forces fire a rocket toward the positions of troops loyal to Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi.  On 20 October 2011, Muammar Gaddafi was killed by rebel forces in his home town of Sirte.

Sources: Buzzfeed.com, Global Post

RUSSIA.— Gadzhimurat Kamalov, one of Russia’s leading investigative journalists has been shot dead in Russia’s North Caucasus region.

Kamalov was the  founder of Chernovik, a newspaper well known for its investigation into government corruption.

Authorities say Kamalov was shot eight times by an unidentified gunman as he was leaving his office at Chernovik in the capital of the republic of Dagestan.

Kamalov was pronuonced dead on the way to the hospital.

Alledgedly, two years ago, Kamalov and several other journalists received death threats in anonymous leaflets that circulated in Makhachkala.

Regional coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, Nina Ognianova, said in a statement that Kamalov’s murder “is a massive loss for independent journalism in the North Caucasus.”

According to the New York based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPT), Russian journalists who investigate corruption face serious risks, especially in the provinces where authorities are held less accountable.

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has urged the authorities to ensure the safety of all journalists working in the region.

There have been at least 19 unsolved murders of journalists in Russia since 2000, including the 2006 killing of Kremlin critic Anna Politkovskaya, according to the CPJ.

“Dagestan and the Northern Caucasus are known to be among the most dangerous places in the world for journalists,”  OSCE media freedom chief, Dunja Mijatovic said.

“I am alarmed by this murder, which targets a newspaper known for its investigative reporting,” Dunja Mijatovic said in a statement.

In the last two decades, more than 70 journalists have been murdered in Russia.

The Committee to Protect Journalists lists Russia as the ninth worst country in the world for the treatment of journalists with Iraq, Somalia, and Mexico holding the top three positions.

MOSCOW.— Chechen poet, academic and anti-separatist Ruslan Akhtakhanov has been shot dead outside his Moscow apartment.

Russian authorities are considering the murder a contract killing. Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said, “The way in which the murder was carried out suggests it had been ordered.”

Akhtakhanov was well-known for his anti-separatist views, believing that Chechnya should remain a part of the Russian Federation.

Less than an hour before his death, Akhtakhanov, attended a ceremony at which he recited poems about brotherhood between Russians and Chechens.

Alledgedly due to his secularist ideas, many extremists and nationalists in the North Caucasus viewed him as an apostate.

In 1998, Akhtakhanov was taken by extremists and was held captive in a pit for nearly 50 days.

“He was a public figure and one of the most active representatives of the Chechen diaspora in Moscow and for this reason could be the target for the nationalists,” said Khamzat Gerikhanov of the Association of Chechen Public and Cultural Organizations.

Police say there were no witnesses to the attack, but they are currently questioning passersby who found Akhtakhanov’s body.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Pavlyuchenkov is claimed to have formed the group tasked with killing Politkovskaya. Authorities have accused the colonel of receiving payment for plotting the murder of Anna Politkovskaya and forming the group to carry it out.

Investigators claim that he ordered surveillance of  Politkovskaya to discover her whereabouts and usual routes around Moscow. Pavlyuchenkov allegedly obtained a gun, planned the murder and also assigned tasks to his accomplices.

In May of this year, the trigger-man, Rustam Makhmudov was arrested in Chechnya and has been charged with the murder of Anna Politkovskaya.

Rustam Makhmudov’s brothers, Dzhabrail and Ibragim, have been accused of acting as drivers at the scene of the crime while former police officer Sergei Khadzhikurbanov has been accused of providing logistical support.

The three men were tried in 2009 but were acquitted for lack of evidence, the verdict  however was overturned by Russia’s supreme court, they are to be retried.

On 7 October 2006, Politkovskaya was found dead in an elevator of her apartment building in Moscow.

Politkovskaya was an outspoken human rights defender and one of Russia’s most famous investigative journalists.

For over a decade, Anna Politkovskaya spoke out against human rights violations in Chechnya, those stories often led to threats against her. Her reports were very critical of the Kremlin, as well as the Russian military in Chechnya and the pro-Moscow Chechen authorities.

At the time of her death, Politkovskaya had been working on several reports about Chechnya for the Russian-based newspaper Novaya Gazeta, known well for its critiques of Chechen authorities.

Nina Ognianova, the Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement, “We welcome this new, significant development in the investigation into the murder of our colleague Anna Politkovskaya and commend the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for its persistent work toward bringing this case to a successful end.”

BELARUS.— Several international organizations have condemned the arbitrary arrest of the prominent Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski.

Ales Bialiatski, President of Human Rights Centre Viasna and Vice-President of the International Federation for Human Rights, was detained on 4 August in central Minsk.

Ales Bialiatski was allegedly detained by men in plain clothes claiming to be police representatives of the Department of Financial Investigations.

Following his detention, Ales Bialiatski was taken to his apartment, which was then searched. Afterwards, he was taken to the Viasna office which was also searched. Documents and office equipment were confiscated from the Viasna office, and a computer was taken from his apartment.

Bialiatski’s wife and child were taken to their summer home outside of Minsk, which was also searched.

Bialiatski is currently detained at the detention centre of the Interior Ministry, which is known for its harsh conditions of detention.

Reportedly, the arrest is related to a criminal case against Bialiatski for tax-evasion.

This is not the first incidence of harassment faced by Bialiatski. On 14 February, Bialiatski received a phone call summoning him to the office of the Public Prosecutor. A written warning was given to Bialiatski alleging that the human rights activities of Viasna were breaching Belarusian legislation.

Human Rights Centre Viasna has been active in Belarus since 1998 and was registered as a non-governmental organization in 1999. In 2003 its official status was withdrawn following its work on election monitoring. The authorities have repeatedly obstructed the organization’s official registration.

Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for OHCHR in Geneva, made the statement, “Given the many worrying reports of harassment of human rights defenders in Belarus, we call on the authorities to guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of [Mr.] Bialatski and all human rights defenders in Belarus.”

International organizations have argued that the Government of Belarus is obliged by the international treaties which it has ratified, to ensure respect for the rights and freedoms of human rights defenders.

LIBYA— On May 13th, five-year old Malaak Al-Shami was severely injured when a Grand rocket hit her bedroom wall in Misrata, Libya. The missile, launched by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, crashed into the bedroom while she was having an afternoon nap with her younger brother and sister.

Malaak’s right leg was nearly severed, her foot amputated, her hand and arm broken in the attack, her 3-year old brother Mohamed and one-year old sister Rodaina died from their wounds.

House to house fighting and indiscriminate shelling of residential areas in Libya has had a devastating effect on many Libyan families. More than a thousand people have been registered missing and even more so have been reported severely injured.

Shortly after the attack, Hajrab Abdal-Shaheed, Malak’s aunt, said of her young niece, “She has a problem sleeping at night, she says she is sometimes dreaming about the explosion and sometimes dreaming about her sister and brother.”

After hearing Malaak’s story, the I Go Aid Foundation, an NGO set up by Libyans and Maltese, arranged for the family to be ferried to Malta and from there to the U.S for rehabilitation treatment.

The Global Medical Relief Fund,  a U.S. nonprofit that aids children who have lost the use of or are missing, limbs or eyes, sponsored the travel costs to the US, while Shriners Hospital will cover all expenses related to Malak’s treatment and rehabilitation procedures.

On Thursday, July 28 Malaak arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

The family is being housed at the Ronald MacDonald House of Long Island, which accommodates families with children being treated for illnesses and injuries at local hospitals.

Elisa Mantonti, founder of Global Medical Relief Fund, said “All the kids that come here, they’re bewildered, reluctant; and once they’re here, they open up.” Malaak quickly adjusted to her new home, she began exploring the playroom, befriending three Iraqi boys who like her spoke Arabic, they had also been brought to the U.S. for surgery by the non-profit.

Mustafa Al-Shami, Malaak’s father,  is hopeful despite the hardships his family has faced, “I feel joy that my daughter will get treatment for her leg,”  he said.”At the same time, I feel grief for the loss of my two other children. And, even though I feel that Malaak may never be the same after the attack, I’m so happy that she will be able to walk and run again one day.”

The family plans on returning to Libya once the rehabilitation process is complete.

IRAN.— On Sunday, July 10, 2011, four Iranian law enforcement officers entered Pegah Ahangarani’s house, taking her and some of her personal belongings into custody.

The Iranian actress and blogger was arrested as she prepared to leave for Germany to write a blog for the Deutsche Welle radio station about the women’s football World Cup.

Pegah Ahangarani was able to contact her mother briefly and reportedly told her that she neither knew where she was nor what her crime was.

Deutsche Welle discovered that Ahangarani is being detained in Tehran’s Evin prison, they have urged Iranian authorities to release her.

Pegah Ahangarani was scheduled to travel to Germany to observe the events at the FIFA Women’s World Cup to write an editorial of the event for Deutsche Welle.

Iran’s Intelligence Agency contacted Pegah Ahangarani just one day before her trip to Germany and warned her not to go, otherwise she would be arrested. Ahangarani decided to cancel her plans to travel to Germany. Ahangarani vanished soon afterwards.

On July 14, it was confirmed that she had been arrested four days earlier.

“Obviously with the arrest of Pegah Ahangarani, Tehran wants not only to prevent reporting of women’s football, but first and foremost, cooperation with Germany’s international service,” Deutsche Welle said.

Pegah Ahangarani last had contact with her family on Sunday, July 10, 2011, since then there has been no news of the actress, her family has reported her disappearance.

HUNGARY.— On Monday, a Hungarian court acquitted Sandor Kepiro, one of the world’s most wanted Nazi criminals, claiming there was insufficient evidence to convict him of the murder of over 30 people of Novi Sad, in 1942.

A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Court of Budapest said Kepiro was acquitted due to lack of evidence.

The prosecution’s case depended almost entirely old testimonies and verdicts from trials in the 1940s, the defense claimed there was no direct evidence that Kepiro committed the crimes.

Zsolt Falvai, a prosecutor, explained the prosecution’s difficulty, “There are cases where there is no access to direct evidence as the direct witnesses are no longer alive… We are obliged to base our case on written proof, documents, even if these are old testimonies.”

The 97-year-old Hungarian, Sandor Kepiro who once topped the Simon Wiesenthal Centre’s (SWC) list of most wanted Nazi criminals walked free form a Budapest court on Monday.

Kepiro, a former officer of the Hungarian gendarmerie claimed innocence, saying, “I am not guilty, and I have always lived a decent life.” Kepiro even went as far as to claim to have saved the lives of five people. Kepiro argued he did not know Jews or Serbs were the targets of the raid.

Ana Frenkel of the SWC and a leader of the Jewish community in Novi Sad, made the statement, “It is not unexpected from a Hungarian society which is not yet mature enough to face its past.”

Sandor Kepiro faced a life sentence for his participation in a raid by Hungarian forces in Novi Sad, on January 21-23, 1942, during which over 1,200 Jews and Serbs were brutally murdered.

Kepiro was found guilty of the crimes in Novi Sad twice,  first in 1944, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison however the sentence was retracted just months later by the fascist government, and then again in 1946 at which time he escaped imprisonment by  fleeing to Argentina. He did not return to Budapest until 1996.

Serbian Jews have urged an appeal over Sandor Kepiro acquittal. “We are not satisfied and we expect the prosecutor to file an appeal,” Bruno Vekaric, Serbia’s deputy war crimes prosecutor, explained.

“Time does not diminish the guilt of the killers and old age should not protect those who committed such heinous crimes,” Efraim Zuroff, the head of the SWC, said.

PALESTINE- ISRAEL.— On April 14th, Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni was abducted in Gaza, the following day he was found dead. Arrigoni was a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) an organization resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land using non-violent methods. “Staying Human” follows Arrigoni in his resistance campaign as he recounts his experiences in Palestine.

PALESTINE- ISRAEL.—A group of US citizens is defiantly rejecting the Obama Administration’s attempt to impede their aid mission to the Gaza strip. Up to 50 Americans are set to sail from a Greek port on a U.S. flagged- ship called “The Audacity of Hope”.

The boat is part of an international flotilla carrying aid for Gaza’s 1.5 million Palestinian residents.

The flotilla members are taking part despite Israeli threats to intercept their ships. Nine people were killed in an Israeli attack on the first flotilla just over a year ago.

“The Audacity of Hope” passengers have called for the U.S. government’s help in ensuring their safe passage, but instead the Obama Administration has told them in fact not to set sail, and even warned them they could face punishment.

Secretary Clinton suggested Israel would have the right to use force to prevent the ship’s passage.

Clinton stated, “We do not believe the Flotilla is a necessary or a useful effort to try to assist the people of Gaza… we think its not helpful for there to be flotillas that try to provoke actions by entering into Israeli waters and creating a situation in which the Israelis have the right to defend themselves.”

Ray McGovern, former senior CIA analyst and passenger on the U.S. aid ship commented, “The Israelis do have a right to interdict arms traffic. We’re bearing letters… how can these letters be considered a threat to the security of Israel?”

The state department followed Clinton’s comment with a statement calling the flotilla irresponsible and provocative and warned that U.S. delegates could face fines and incarceration.

The state department refused to comment whether the US considers the Israeli blockade of Gaza legal.

Flotilla passengers are now facing a new unforeseen challenge, the Greek government has refused to grant permission for “The Audacity of Hope” and two other ships to leave port, citing anonymous complaints later revealed to be from an Israeli group.

On Sunday, the Israeli government issued a statement warning foreign journalists not to cover the aid mission; the warning stated that participants would be barred from the country for 10 years and have their equipment confiscated.

The attempt to punish journalists covering the flotilla had been condemned by many rights groups and the Israeli-based Foreign Press Association stated, “The warning sends a chilly message to the international media and raises serious questions about Israel’s commitment to freedom of the press.”

Israel has since backtracked on its warning to foreign journalists covering the international aid flotilla, it has ordered the navy to stop a breach of the blockade.

SOMALIA.– A Somali court has jailed six foreigners, an American, three Britons and two Kenyans,  for illegally bringing $3.6 million dollars into the country reportedly to pay ransoms to pirates.

Two men received 15-year sentences and fines of $15,000, the others faced sentences of 10 years in jail and fines of $10,000 each.

This marks the first time foreigners have been sentenced for involvement in delivering ransoms to pirates who were holding hijacked ships.

The six men were arrested May 24 shortly after their plane landed at Mogadishu, they were allegedly waiting for another small aircraft to take the cash and fly it to another location.

Both the aircraft and the money has been confiscated by the Somali government.

It is illegal in Somalia to the pay ransoms to pirates, however the practice remains routine. The U.N. reports that over $110 million in ransoms were paid to Somali pirates just last year.

Somali pirates have recently increased their attacks, commandeering several commercial boats. Currently, at least 24 ships and their crew are believed to be being held for ransom along the Somali coast.

AFRICA.— Farmers in Africa are being driven off their traditional lands to make way for new industrial farming projects backed by European hedge funds seeking profits, and foreign countries looking for cheap food. The “land grab” is leading to the potential displacement of hundreds of thousands of farmers

The Oakland Institute, says investors have bought u to60 million hectares (148 million acres), land equal to the size of France, in what is commonly being referred to as a “land grab”. Anuradha Mittal, executive director of Oakland Institute, explained, “The same financial firms that drove us into a global recession by inflating the real estate bubble through risky financial maneuvers are now doing the same with the world’s food supply.”

“It’s kind of shameful that while we in the Western world paint Africa as a basket case — we talk about its hunger, we talk about its corruption — but we are responsible for trying to steal the land and turn it into a breadbasket for the North” said Mittal.

European and U.S. agribusinesses are the primary buyers of hundreds of thousands of hectares for future biofuel development.

The “land grabs” are also supported by China, Libya and other Mideast and Asian investors seeking to secure food resources and farming for their growing populations.

Reports say investors are being promised cheap land with no questions asked while the hedge fund buyers are searching for ways to displace traditional farms (that have no clear formal ownership) for small fees and promises of employment.

In Ethiopia, hundreds of thousands are being driven off their traditional lands and placed in new government-planned villages, while foreign investors claim the land to start new export-driven farms.

Many investor groups claim that the projects it backs are boosting income and providing jobs for hundreds of people. Anthony Poorter, Africa director for EmVest Asset Management, stated, “We’ve really created something out of nothing in Africa.”

However, Frederic Mousseau, policy director at the Oakland Institute, explained, “The majority of the world’s poor still depend on small farms for their livelihoods, and speculators are taking these away while promising progress that never happens.”