The government of Iran should amend or abolish broadly worded national security laws used to stifle peaceful dissent in the country's Kurdish areas and end arbitrary arrests of Kurdish critics and dissidents.

The editors of two leading Vietnamese newspapers were fired on January 2, 2009, the latest in a series of measures by the Vietnamese government to stifle criticism and dissent.

On January 6, 2009, Ethiopia's parliament enacted a new law on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that criminalizes most human rights work in the country, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch said that the law is a direct rebuke to governments that assist Ethiopia and that had expressed concerns about the law's restrictions on freedom of association and expression.

Israel should immediately allow journalists and human rights monitors access to Gaza.

The Iranian government should end immediately its escalating persecution of Dr. Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel peace laureate and a leading human rights defender.

Leading writers, China scholars, lawyers, and human rights advocates from around the world today are releasing a letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao urging the writer Liu Xiaobo’s immediate and unconditional release.

Nepalese authorities should promptly and impartially investigate and prosecute alleged ruling party activists responsible for an attack on journalists on December 21, 2008.

The unlawful raid by Iranian security forces on the Tehran rights group run by Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi on December 21, 2008, raises concerns of a broader attempt to silence Iran’s human rights community.