Burundian police have used excessive force against people protesting President Pierre Nkurunziza’s election bid for a third term.

The US, EU, and other governments should speak out about human rights abuses in Uzbekistan on the 10th anniversary of the Andijan massacre and renew their calls for accountability.

This Human Rights Watch video shows why the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) should speak out against Azerbaijan's appalling record on freedom of expression in the lead-up to the Eurovision Song Contest. The EBU declined to show the video at a workshop about media rights in Azerbaijan it organized on May 2, 2012, citing technical reasons. The EBU is an association of public broadcasters with a stated commitment to free expression. It oversees the Eurovision Song Contest.

The government of Azerbaijan has forcibly evicted homeowners and demolished their homes for urban development projects in the capital of Baku. Dozens of families have been evicted from the neighborhood where the arena for the May 2012 Eurovision Song Contest is being built. Human Rights Watch has documented the authorities’ illegal expropriation of properties and forcible evictions of dozens of families in four Baku neighborhoods, at times without warning or in the middle of the night. The authorities subsequently demolished homes, sometimes with residents’ possessions inside. The government has refused to provide homeowners fair compensation for the properties, many of which are in highly desirable locations even though Azerbaijani law stipulates that market value should be paid in compensation for a forced sale. In many cases, including in the National Flag Square area, the government has cut services or begun dismantling apartment buildings in which some residents remained. These measures make the buildings uninhabitable and compel residents to leave.