State Censorship, Control, and Increasing Isolation of Internet Users in Russia
The 50-page report, “Disrupted, Throttled, and Blocked: State Censorship, Control, and Increasing Isolation of Internet Users in Russia,” documents the impact of the government’s increasing technological capacities and control over the internet infrastructure. Human Rights Watch found that this allows the authorities to carry out more widespread and nontransparent blocking and throttling of unwanted websites and censorship circumvention tools, as well as internet disruptions and shutdowns under the pretext of ensuring public safety and national security.
This report examines barriers to academic freedom and the exercise ofbasic rights erected during the thirty-two year authoritarian rule of PresidentSoeharto in Indonesia. As this report was being prepared, Indonesia was undergoing what appeared to be a momentous transition, spurred on by students and faculty, toward a more democratic society.
A month after Second Prime Minister Hun Sen's coup, Cambodia bears little resemblance to the society envisioned in the Paris accords of 1991 that laid the framework for an end to conflict and a United Nations peacebuilding effort on an unprecedented scale.
The New Amendments to the Press and Publications Law
Since Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, there has been growing tension between the Jordanian government and the independent press, particularly the kingdom's small-circulation weekly newspapers. Journalists and editors have been arrested, detained and prosecuted for violations of both the penal code and provisions of the press and publications law of 1993.
On May 23, 1997, Iranians went to the polls for the seventh time to elect a president of the Islamic Republic. The incumbent, Hashemi Rafsanjani, served the two consecutive four-year terms permitted by law. The transfer of power by way of elections was a notable event in a region in which most leaders do not voluntarily leave power or subject themselves to any type of open electoral process.
Lebanon's airwaves had long been unregulated, with scores of unlicensed private broadcasters that ranged in political diversity from the radio station of the Lebanese Communist Party to the television station of Hizballah. The broadcasting community included 52 television stations and over 120 radio stations for a population of three million.
On November 18, 1996, Zambians voted in parliamentary and presidential elections—the second multiparty elections since the end in 1991 of twenty-seven years of authoritarian and mostly single-party rule, under former president Kenneth Kaunda.
With its decision to bring Chinese dissident Wang Dan to trial on October 30 on the charge of “conspiracy to subvert the government,” the most serious charge in the Chinese criminal code, the Chinese government has signaled its determination to deny freedom of speech and association to any citizen daring publicly to raise fundamental criticisms of government policy.
In the aftermath of rioting on July 27, 1996, in Jakarta, a massive crackdown was conducted by the Indonesian internal security apparatus, targeting young student activists suspected of involvement in organizations collectively branded by the army as the "new PKI" [Indonesian Communist Party].
On May 7, 1992, an Egyptian administrative court decided to uphold last year's decree dissolving the Egyptian branch of the Arab Women's Solidarity Association (AWSA), a prominent women's rights organization. The court refused to grant an injunction that would have allowed AWSA to continue operating while it awaits the outcome an appeal on the merits of the government decree.
As the 1997 parliamentary elections in Indonesia approach, the political atmosphere has begun to heat up and civil liberties are deteriorating. Since the first such election under the “New Order” government of President Soeharto in 1971, they have never been the “democratic festival” that the government would have both outsiders and its own citizens believe.
Despite the government of Uzbekistan's professed commitment to freedom of the press—made both explicitly and publicly over the past two years—state censorship of the media remains pervasive and intimidation of journalists is rampant. The tone and subject matter of articles published in Uzbekistan is strictly controlled by the government.
Human Rights and Parliamentary Elections in the Islamic Republic of Iran
Iranians voted on March 8, 1996, to elect 270 members of the parliament, or Majles, in an election process that severely limited citizen participation. Parliamentary elections could represent a real contest for power in Iran’s political system—but only if arbitrary bans on candidates and other constraints on political life are lifted.
Since the end of 30 years of military dictatorship and the election in 1992 of the country’s first civilian president in three decades, the Republic of Korea is a more open country with a government that pledges respect for international human rights. Nevertheless, it has not lived up to its pledges.
Letter from Human Rights Watch and the New Cambodian Press Law
Over the last year, the Royal Cambodian Government has waged a campaign to silence its critics, targeting independent newspapers and political figures for prosecution and harassment. On more than a dozen occasions, it has suspended, shut or confiscated newspapers or brought criminal complaints against journalists.
