Best of Dispatches: Top News Posts This Week

Another tragedy on the Mediterranean - and the need to prevent more; sentencing without justice in Afghanistan; and Hungary's alarming efforts to stifle civil society - 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: 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: Afghanistan's Judicial Vigilantism

Patricia Gossman
On September 15, the Kabul Appeals Court turned a blind eye to serious flaws in the handling of the notorious Paghman gang rape case and upheld death sentences for five of the defendants. Two others were sentenced to 20 years in prison...

Dispatches: Hungary's Police Raids Squeeze Civil Society

Lydia Gall
Hungary’s government has taken yet another step to intimidate civil society...

Dispatches: Limiting Free Speech Won't Stop Violence in Greece

Eva Cossé

One week after Greece passed new anti-racism legislation, officials are heatedly debating the law in the news. But, somehow, the debaters are missing two key points...

Dispatches: Another Step Back for Uganda's HIV Fight

Maria Burnett
Back in the 1990s, Uganda was seen as a success story in the fight against the AIDS epidemic. HIV infection rates were falling. The country had developed strong, community based programs that provided support to those who became ill. They fought stigma and emphasized pragmatic – not ideological – approaches to preventing HIV infection. Now...