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

PERU.— Peru’s chief prosecutor has relaunched a criminal investigation into the forced sterilizations of thousands of women during the 1990-2000 government of Alberto Fujimori.

The women were predominantly from rural areas, were poor, illiterate and Quechua-speaking.

A practice that was once official state policy now constitutes a crime against humanity.

Initially, the program was well received, with USAID, the United State’s international aid agency, donating $35 million to the effort.

The goal of the program was to reduce poverty by lowering the birth rate among the poor.”

Alejandra Cardenas of the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, explained that no government has practiced forced sterilization as state policy since Nazi Germany.

The Fujimori administration has denied that women were forced to undergo sterilization.

Officials claimed women signed consent forms, many women however said they were deceived or threatened.

One victim, Victoria Vigo, explained that her fallopian tubes were severed without her knowledge during a Caesarian procedure in 1996. Vigo discovered what had occurred only after overhearing a conversation between two doctors.

“He had even omitted it from my clinical notes. He knew what he was doing. I could have gone on trying for years and years to have another child without even knowing that I had been sterilized. I felt mutilated, completely violated. What kind of values does a person like that have?”

Mamerita Mestanza, a 33-year-old mother of seven died in 1996 after being pressured into tubal ligation surgery.

“Mestanza was told that a law had been passed and that she and her husband were going to be fined or imprisoned because they had (more than) five kids already,” said Cardenas.

Mestanza signed a consent form and went through with the operation. A few days later Mamerita returned to the clinic complaining of internal bleeding, she died shortly afterwards.

In 2003, Peru agreed to pay Mestanza’s relatives up to $100,000 and to provide her children with free education and other benefits.

Six years later, the chief prosecutor’s office ruled that neither the Mestanza case or the 2,000 other cases of forced sterilization constituted a severe violation of human rights.

BRAZIL.— Brazilian Judge Patricia Acioli, mother of three, known for her hard-line stance against Rio de Janeiro’s criminal gangs and brutal militias,was murdered on 11 August just outside her house in Niteroi, across the bay from Rio de Janeiro.

Judge Acioli was shot by four hooded gunmen when she pulled up to her home early in the morning. She was shot nearly 21 times at close range as she sat in her vehicle waiting for the garage door to open.

Acioli’s death came just days after she delivered sentences against former policemen who allegedly turned to crime. Throughout her career of almost 20 years, Acioli handed down 60 sentences against policemen and former policemen despite recurring death threats against her.

Along with other judges and prosecutors, Acioli had often received threats from former police officers and criminal gangs. According to investigators, Acioli was on a handwritten death list issued by a leading member of a militia group who was recently arrested in Rio de Janeiro.

Gabriela Knaul, the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, explained,”The National Council for Justice has reported at least 69 threatened judges all over the country, while studies from the [Brazilian] justice ministry have reported that more than 90 judges are on a ‘most wanted’ death list.”

Sawei Lai, a public prosecutor in Rio de Janeiro, spent  nearly three years being escorted by police security because of his work against gangs and militias in Rio de Janeiro.”We all receive death threats, (The threats) influence us very little. If anything, is makes us more determined to fight for justice,” Sai said.

In a recent interview, Judge Acioli admitted she had been threatened several times but did not take them seriously. Nevertheless, Judge Acioli did hire have bodyguards, they were not however present at the moment of the killing.

Rio de Janeiro Police chief Marta Rocha told reporters that 18 suspects have been named by investigators. The suspects’ names have not been released.

In a written statement, Brazil Supreme Court President Cesar Peluso called the killing “a barbaric act” and a direct attack against the independence of Brazil’s judiciary.

According to investigators, the majority of the bullets used in the killing came from 40-caliber pistols used by civil and military police, and some others came from special-issue Brazilian Armed Forces 45-caliber pistols.

Human Right Watch claims Brazil has a serious problem with police abuse and corruption, “According to official data, police were responsible for 505 killings in the state of Rio de Janeiro alone in the first six months of 2010.”

“It is high time for the Government to set up a national system of protection in order to allow judges to discharge their functions without fear for their life, integrity and security, and that of their families,” Gabriela Knaul, UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers said.

Meanwhile, residents of Niteroi hung black protest banners on the beach near Acioli’s home to protest her death. The banners read, “Who Silenced the Voice of Justice?”

The message read, “this message is for the lawyer Julio Cesar Rosero, for Martha Giraldo and all her organization of bandits, for Jenny Torres … if the soldiers are convicted, the lawyer and la negra [Jenny Torres] will die, last warning, this is serious, very serious” (este mensaje es para el abogado Julio Cesar Rosero, para Martha Giraldo y toda su organización de vandoleros, para Jenny Torres … si condenan a los militares muere el abogado y la negra ultima advertencia es en serio muy enserio).

 Julio Cesar Rosero is representing Jenny Torres in the trial of eight members of a Special Forces group of the armed forces.

On 14 January 2007 Jenny Torres’ husband, Edison Yimel Villanueva, and three other men were killed in the village of La Reforma, a rural area of Cali in theValle del Cauca Department. The men were later falsely identified as guerrillas killed in combat.

Julio Cesar Rosero and Jenny Torres also received death threats on 2 June. A text message sent to both of them that read: “Son-of-a-bitch you are going to die for snitching on the heroes of the fatherland, greetings to la negra [Jenny Torres] son-of-a-bitch guerrillas” (Hijo de puta te vas a morir por sapo at [sic] los héroes de la patria saludes a negra hp guerrilleros).

Extrajudicial executions carried out by the paramilitary and security forces as a component of their counter-insurgency strategy have been widespread. Currently, the Attorney General’s Office is investigating more than 2,000 cases of killings reportedly committed by the security forces.

MOVICE is a coalition of civil society organizations campaigning for truth, justice and reparation for the victims of Colombia’s devastating internal armed conflict. The organization has documented and exposed many cases of killings and enforced disappearance carried out by the security forces and paramilitary forces.

Members of MOVICE campaigning for justice frequently face death threats from paramilitary and security forces.

DRAFTED BY: Ashly Bloxon

BRAZIL.— Anti- logging activism is becoming increasingly more dangerous in areas of Brazil. Amazon environmental activist Adelino Ramos’ murder comes just days after the death of Jose Claudio Ribeiro da Silva.

In 2005, Dorothy Stang, an American born Roman Catholic sister was brutally shot and killed in a rural area of Para state after her vocal defense of the Amazon angered local loggers.

José Claudio Ribeiro da Silva was shot and killed along with his wife, Maria do Espírito Santo da Silva, in Nova Ipixuna, a rural town in the northeast Brazilian Amazon state of Para.

Shortly before his death Ribeiro stated at the TED Summit, “I protect the forest in any way I can.  That is why I live at gunpoint all the time, because I don’t just sit down, I stand up and denounce loggers, and coal burners and that is why they think I shouldn’t exist.”

Ribeiro reportedly received many death threats prior to his murder.

For environmentalists, rural parts of Para state are often referred to as the “land without law”, because of its reputation as a place where loggers have power to exact revenge without repercutions.

The federal state prosecutor stated, “Para state is a place with a lot of impunity; there are over 400 murder cases unsolved involving people in rural areas.”

José Luis Méndez Martínez holds  a B.A. in International Relations from El Colegio de México as well as a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh. He was a Fulbright Scholar in 1987-1989. From 2004 to 2005 he was General Director for Research at the Presidential Office for Governmental Innovation. He was Executive Director of the Professional Electoral Service and member of the General Executive Board of the Federal Electoral Institute.  He has served as an advisor to several Secretaries of the Mexican Federal Government and consultant to the World Bank, and the United Nations Development Program.

WHERE: Institute of the Americas Building, Deutz Conference Room

WHEN: Wednesday, May 25th from 3:30p.m.- 5:30p.m.