Category: freedom of assembly

Activist ban highlights ‘existential threat’ to Egypt’s civil society

     

  An Egyptian activist was prevented from flying to Beirut for a women’s rights conference on Monday after passport control officials told her she was banned from traveling, Reuters reports:… Read more »

The populist perils of illiberal paeans

     

Modern democracies operate within a framework of rationalism. Dismantle it and the space is filled by prejudice. Fear counts above reason; anger above evidence. Lies claim equal status with facts,… Read more »

Kazakhstan’s ‘economy first, politics later’ philosophy under strain

     

  Kazakhstan is not a country accustomed to political instability. Nursultan Nazarbayev has enjoyed a quarter century as president of the central Asian nation on the back of rising oil… Read more »

China’s future: Xi’s ‘great rejuvenation’ is radical and risky

     

“China is simply not turning out as many had expected and have worked so long and hard to realize — a liberal China,” notes David Shambaugh, a professor of political… Read more »

Obama chides Vietnam on political freedoms

     

  U.S. President Barack Obama chided Vietnam on political freedoms on Tuesday after critics of the communist-run government were prevented from meeting him in Hanoi, a discordant note on a… Read more »

US-Cuba rapprochement benefits regime, not people

     

The rapprochement between the United States and Cuba – one of the world’s most authoritarian tourist destinations – will benefit the Cuban people little and its fruits will not reach… Read more »

Why political prisoners matter

     

  Today, May 12, marks the 40th anniversary of the Moscow Helsinki Group, a human rights organization created to monitor the Soviet Union’s compliance with the Helsinki Accords, notes Natan… Read more »

U.S. poised to end ban on arms sales to Vietnam, keep sanctions on Myanmar

     

The United States isn’t ready to fully shed sanctions in Myanmar, instead awaiting progress on issues including human rights as the government run by former opposition leader Aung San Suu… Read more »

Obama must raise Vietnam’s rights abuses, civil society crackdown

     

Thich Quang Do, the Patriarch of Vietnam’s Unified Buddhist Church (left), has called on U.S. president Barack Obama to use his forthcoming trip to the Communist state to highlight continuing… Read more »

Egypt faces backlash on freedom of expression

     

  The US State Department and the European Union have urged Egypt’s government  to uphold basic rights to freedom of expression after security forces stormed the Press Syndicate. Egypt’s police… Read more »