Best of Dispatches: Top News Posts This Week

The status quo over North Korea is changing; Another tragedy on the Mediterranean - and the need to prevent more; and the harsh reality for Syria's civil society activists - 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: For North Korea, No More 'Business as Usual'

Param Preet-Singh & John Sifton
Shin Dong-Hyuk, the only known escapee of North Korea’s notorious Camp 14, made a powerful and eloquent plea today to the international community: “Save our brothers and sisters who are suffering without freedom in North Korea.”...

Dispatches: A Heinous Act, More Deaths on the High Seas

Judith Sunderland
Over the last two days, news emerged of three separate shipwrecks in the Mediterranean with the unbearable estimate of 700 presumed dead...

Dispatches: A Grim Prophesy, an Even Grimmer Reality in Syria

Lama Fakih
In a speech before the European Parliament in 2009, Syrian activist Mazen Darwish warned that unless civil society was strengthened “[the whole] region, not only Syria ... could explode at any moment and leave behind thousands of refugees.”...

Dispatches: Attacks, Venues Cancelled for an LGBT Festival in Russia

Jonny Dzhibladze
Nevsky Boulevard, Saint Petersburg’s central street, is always bustling in the evening. Tourists marvel at the magnificent architecture of Russia’s northern capital, locals hurry home after a day’s work. On September 18, the teaming passers-by might not have noticed several police buses parked along Nevsky Boulevard and a man holding a poster that read: “No QUEERFEST in Russia. Sodom will not pass. Run to GAYrope, perverts!”...

Dispatches: Victory for Reproductive Rights in Spain

Judith Sunderland
An extraordinary thing happened in Spain yesterday. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy officially abandoned plans to overhaul the nation’s laws that would have restricted access to safe and legal abortions...