• Welcome Kyrgyzstan’s Leader, but Speak Up about Human Rights
    Dec 11, 2012
    Strange things happen in Bishkek, the Kyrgyzstan capital. One morning this autumn the sounds of loud protests outside parliament almost drowned out conversation in our meeting nearby.
  • Back to the (Soviet) Future
    Dec 6, 2012
    While today's Russia cannot be compared to the Soviet Union, it is certainly moving in that direction. In fact, during the first seven months of Vladimir Putin's new presidency, the echo of the old times has become alarmingly strong. So strong, in fact, that the most prominent human rights defender in the country is seriously contemplating the prospect of soon landing in jail.
  • UAE No Model of Progress
    Nov 28, 2012
    Ever since the European Parliament adopted its first resolution on the United Arab Emirates in late October, expressing profound concerns about its human rights record, the UAE has gone to great lengths to contest its accuracy.
  • Social Media Prosecutions Threaten Free Speech in the UK -- and Beyond
    Oct 14, 2012
    Visitors to Hyde Park on a Sunday can see people standing on stepladders engaged in passionate debate with groups clustered around them. Speakers’ Corner is a symbol of Britain’s centuries old commitment to freedom of speech.
  • Uganda: Protecting Civil Society Helps Preserve Basic Freedoms
    Sep 25, 2012
  • The Clubbing of Klubradio
    Aug 21, 2012
    A clampdown on a leading independent radio station shows that Hungary has no intention of heeding EU calls to improve media freedom.
  • Human Rights and Culture Wars in the New Tunisia
    Jul 16, 2012
    If legislators vote to impose respect for the "sacred" as a restraint on free speech, or maintain laws criminalizing speech that "disturbs the public order," you can bet that those in power will end up applying such provisions in arbitrary and political ways -- just as the dictator they ousted did.
  • Tunisia’s Setback in Freedom of Expression
    Jun 23, 2012
    Recent violence in Tunisia set off by religious radicals’ reaction to an art exhibition that they deemed offensive to Islam has revived a discussion here about defamation of religion and freedom of expression. Ennahdha, the Islamist party that is the largest political group in the National Constituent Assembly (NCA), has responded by declaring that it will introduce a law to criminalize offenses against the sanctity of Islam. Such laws could quickly create a new form of censorship under the mantle of the protection of religion.
  • Hungary at Road's End
    Jun 6, 2012
    The Hungarian government is busy whipping up nationalistic sentiments among the population, having commemorated June 4 as a national day of mourning of the territorial and population losses from the Trianon Peace treaty of 1920. But Hungarians - and Europeans - should keep a close watch on immediate concerns, such as the country's constantly deteriorating human rights record.
  • EBU – Zero Points for Tenacity on Freedom of Expression
    May 25, 2012
    The warm glow of European togetherness that the show usually generates, at least for an evening, is one of the things the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the association of Europe’s national public service broadcasters that puts the contest on stage, loves most about it.