Best of Dispatches: Top News Posts This Week

Twitter is shut down in Turkey; Stripping rights from those with mental disabilities; and why the world recognizes Water Day - these were among the most popular posts to Dispatches, our daily forum for breaking human rights news and commentary. You can find all our Dispatches here.

Dispatches: Turkey Shuts Down Twitter

Emma Sinclair-Webb
In the run up to the March 30 municipal elections, the government of Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has closed down Twitter in the country...

Dispatches: Democracy Disabled in Hungary

Lydia Gall
National elections will take place in Hungary on April 6, and polls suggest the governing party will win re-election. But not everybody will get to cast a ballot...

Dispatches: Thirsting for Justice on World Water Day

Janer Cohen & Amanda Klasing
If you are reading this, it’s not likely you will be one of the 2.5 billion people looking for a place to defecate outdoors. Or one of the hundreds of millions of mostly women and children walking great distances, or waiting in long lines, to collect one or two buckets of water – water that may not even be safe to drink...

Dispatches: Removing the Bar for Ethiopia

Leslie Lefkow
On March 19, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) decided to admit Ethiopia as a candidate country. With this move, the EITI may have added a member, but it lost its credibility as a good governance initiative...

Dispatches: Curb Youth Sex Offender Laws in Illinois

Antonio Ginatta
Requiring that children who commit sex offenses be placed on registries often harms registrants while doing little to protect public safety...