U.S. Policy on Voting Rights in Global Perspective
The 55-page report, “Out of Step: US Policy on Voting Rights in Global Perspective,” examines the laws of 136 countries around the world with populations of 1.5 million and above and finds that the majority—73 of the 136—never, or rarely, deny a person’s right to vote because of a criminal conviction. In the other 63 countries, the United States sits at the restrictive end of the spectrum, disenfranchising a broader swath of people overall.
The United Nations has embarked on its most ambitious project ever in terms of both expense and scope in Cambodia, and the exercise will undoubtedly exert great influence on how the U.N. is used in the settlement of other conflicts around the world.
On July 21, in the most important political trial in China in twelve year, a three-judge panel of the Beijing Intermediate People's Court sentenced Bao Tong had been taken into custody on May 28, 1989 and held without charge, incommunicado for much of the time, for over three years. The trial took less than six hours. Asia Watch has obtained the verdict attached as Appendix I.
Full-scale war, marked by appalling brutality inflicted on the civilian population and extreme violations of international humanitarian law, has been raging in Bosnia-Hercegovina since early April 1992. Mistreatment in detention, the taking of hostages and the pillaging of civilian property is widespread.
The Roma people, commonly known in English as Gypsies, have been misunderstood ever since their migration from Northern India sometime around the 10th century. Ignorance of their origin initially led to a widespread belief that they were spies, arsonists, and hooligans. Some nations mistakenly called them "Gypsies," assuming they were from Egypt.
Children have suffered greatly as a result of the conflict in Northern Ireland; of the almost 3,000 people who have lost their lives since 1969 in political violence associated with "The Troubles," many have been children killed by paramilitaries or by security forces. Moreover, children in the province are caught between two powerful groups - security forces and paramilitaries.
Addressing two sets of concerns, this report covers both the abuses relating to the seventeen years of war between the Mozambique Armed Forces and the rebel Mozambique National Resistance, as well as the reforms instigated by the ruling Mozambique Liberation Front under President Joachim Chissano.
New Communications Technologies and Traditional Civil Liberties
Since the personal computer ushered in a communication revolution about 15 years ago, the accompanying technology has been likened to everything from the printing press to Hyde Park Corner, from the postal system to talk radio. Pungent as these analogies are, their limitations point up the essential uniqueness of computer-mediated communication.
This report examines gross human-rights abuses in Egypt: torture and long-term detention without charge or trial. It focuses particularly on the use of torture by officers and soldiers of the Ministry of Interior's General Directorate for State Security Investigation (SSI) during the period when political and security suspects are held in incommunicado detention.
The Skewed U.S. Monitoring of Repatriated Haitian Refugees
The May 24 Executive Order authorizing the summary repatriation of Haitian boat people is premised on the view, expressed by President Bush and other U.S. officials, that none of the Haitians risk political persecution upon return to Haiti. That view is principally based on surveys of repatriates conducted by State Department and Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) officials.
Between May 29 and June 6, 1992, nine soldiers and one policeman were tried by military or police courts in Bali for their role in the massacre in East Timor on November 12, 1991 when the Indonesian army opened fire on a crowd of unarmed demonstrators. The trials were open to diplomatic observers and the press; the sentences were light, ranging from eight to eighteen months.
36 writers from 16 countries receive funds from the estates of Lillian Hellman and Dashiell Hammett
The Italian translator of The Satanic Verses, who was the victim of a knife attack last summer; a Peruvian journalist arrested during the recent coup; and numerous Burmese and Chinese writers imprisoned for their roles in their nations' pro-democracy movements are among the writers recognized this year by the Fund for Free Expression for their courage in the face of political persecution.
Prisoners in the U.K., which has the highest per capita rate of imprisonment in Western Europe, suffer from unsanitary conditions, extremely poor conditions for remand prisoners, and the lack of useful educational or work activities.
In Andhra Pradesh, one of India’s poorest and least developed states, conflict between government forces and an armed insurgent group known as the Peoples’ War Group, has resulted in massive human rights violations.
This report is the result of an unprecedented joint effort between two leading citizen advocacy organizations: a human rights group, Human Rights Watch; and an environmental group, the Natural Resources Defense Council. As one who has been for 14 years privileged to be involved with both, I have long believed that a cooperative effort such as this one will enhance both causes significantly.
The people of Peru are caught in a deadly crossfire between government forces and a brutal insurgent movement, chiefly Sendero Luminoso, as they battle for control of the country.
