Individuals at Risk

(new perspectives on human rights - 2)

This past week saw the very first United States Social Forum holding to the slogan "Another World Is Possible, Another U.S. is Necessary."  Hosted in Atlanta, the USSF was a five-day event composed of nearly 10,000 registered individuals (and probably many more unregistered), over one hundred organizations, several hundred workshops, an opening march from the Georgia State Capital to the King Memorial, three evening plenaries, public space events, a film festival, concerts and other cultural events, information tables, social change vendors, art exhibits, a soccer tournament, poetry slams, issue-based programming at various solidarity tents, a female skateboarding clinic, and plenty more unoffical offshoot events organized by all the organizations and individuals at the forum.  Under the auspices of the World Social Forum, the USSF was organized as an experiment in movement building over a period of 24-months, from the ground up.  Its intentions were to serve as an opportunity to explore interconnections between critical world issues, to come together to share lessons and questions, to learn from each other's struggles, and to develop bold collaborative visions, leadership, and strategies for our communities.  Why?  To send a message around the world that there is an active movement in the US that is committed to challenging US empire and its policies at home and abroad.

I have to say it was amazing to see downtown Atlanta overtaken by activists, advocates, and many other types of socially-conscious people.  If you weren't able to check out the forum yourself, or didn't even have a clue it was going on... there are and will be plenty of podcasts going up around the net featuring interviews, workshops, plenaries, etc.  In fact, the USSF has already been featured on Democracy Now!, Uprising (KPFK), and other Pacifica Radio programming.  Many attendees have also posted their own media on the USSF 2007 media server, which has an assortment of multimedia.

You can check out the USSF 2007 website to learn more about what's been happening.

-Chris

is a world without humans.

As the Supreme Court hacks away at a half-century-old civil rights victory (some case known as Brown v. Board of Education, you may have heard of it), as China equivocates its role in the Sudan crisis, and as the folks within the beltway try to figure out just which branch of the government the Vice President is a part of, the gang at Scientific American have published an interview with Alan Weisman about his new book The World Without Us.  When Weisman, a Laureate Associate Professor in Journalism and Latin American Studies at the University of Arizona,  was posed with the question about what a world without humans would be like, he was politely skeptical.  But after thinking about the unlikely yet plausible possibility of an extraterrestial invasion, human-specific global virus, or possibly even a reenactment of chapter 23 "Obsolete" in Chuck Palahniuk's Haunted, Alan reconsidered the proposition and was intrigued.

What would happen you ask?  I'm not one for spoilers, so here is a good assortment of explanations for all types:

short attention span? Scientific American's July 2007 article "An Earth Without People"

visual learner? video companion to Scientific American's "An Earth Without People"

bookworm? Alan Weisman's The World Without Us on Amazon.com 

geek? Scientific American's 6/27/07 "Science Talk" podcast interviewing Alan Weisman

etc? Scientific American's "Timeline: The Fall of New York City"

Although it's realistically only a 30th century end to the human rights debate, take it as food for thought in 2007.  Besides, isn't the world a lot more interesting with us living in it.

(new perspectives on human rights - 1) 

-Chris Garrigues, Atlanta

Refugees and asylum seekers are often in the most vulnerable populations around the world.  From the Sudanese in Chad to Haitians attempting to enter the United States, displaced persons often need more protection to ensure their human rights are not being abused.

The United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees is an international convention which defines who a refugee is, and sets out the rights of individuals who are granted asylum.  The Convention was approved by a United Nations conference on July 28, 1951, and was originally designed to protect European refugees after World War II, but was expanded by a 1967 protocol removing geographical and time limits.

Article 1 of the Convention as amended by the 1967 Protocol defines a refugee as:

"A person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.."

There has also been a growing recognition of those fleeing gender- or sexual orientation-based persecution. 

Above is the definition of a refugee, but here's a quick guide to other vocabulary used when talking about displaced peoples:

-Internally-Displaced Person  (IDP)- someone who has been forced to leave their home for reasons such as religious or political persecution, war or natural disaster, but has not crossed an international border.   Often these people are not defined as 'refugees' by international law, and are therefore not protected by international law.

-Asylum seeker- a person travelling to a foreign nation in order to be resettle there after experiencing persecution or violence in there home country.  There is currently some discussion over whether migrants become asylum-seekers when they reach shore, or as soon as they are in the power of a foreign government.

-UNHCR- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was formed to protect and support refugees at the request of a government or the UN and assist in their return or resettlement in a foreign country.  The agency currently has major missions in Lebanon, South Sudan, Chad/Darfur, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kenya to assist and provide services to refugees and IDPs.

-Non-refoulement- a principle in international law that concerns the protection of refugees from being returned to places where their lives or freedoms would be threatened.  Unlike political asylum, which refers to specific individual cases, non-refoulement regards generic repatriation of people to dangerous areas.

Currently, the UNHCR reports 32.8 million refugees, asylum seekers, and other individuals of concern. 

One of the most pressing refugee problems has to do with displaced Sudanese, fleeing from the wars in their country.  Over three million people have become refugees and internally displaced people as a result of the armed conflict.  While many sought refuge across the border in Chad, some fled to Egypt.  When Egyptian police violently broke up protests by thousands of Sudanese refugees, some fled for a second time, into Israel.  Today there are approximately 300 Sudanese asylum seekers in Israel, including 35 children.  The UNHCR has requested that the government not return them to Sudan or Egypt where their lives would be in danger.  However, Israel considers the Sudanese to be 'enemy nationals,' and if unable to deport them, keeps them in indefinite detention.  To call upon the government of Israel to allow Sudanese asylum seekers into the country to seek refuge, you can go to Refugee Action 03/07. 

 Approximately 217 people of Chin ethnic group were detained in Malaysia, including at least ten children and five pregnant women.  They are at risk of corporal punishment for breaking Malaysia's immigration laws, and of being forcibly returned to Myanmar, where they would be at grave risk of torture.  The Chin ethnic group live mainly in the north and north-west of Myanmar, and thousands have fled the country to escape persecution, torture and even death at the hands of the military government. They are mainly Christian, in Buddhist Myanmar, and face particular persecution because of their minority status.  To urge Malaysian authorities to protect and not forcibly return these refugees, go to Urgent Action 162/07. 

 Hundreds of migrant children and their families detained at the Hutto detention facility in Texas are kept in prison cells for months at a time.  Urge the Secretary of Homeland Security to treat migrant and asylum seeking families properly, and not to hold them in prisons by taking action online. 

 You can learn more by visiting the AI section on Refugees and Asylum. 

~Jessica Beardsley

You go home to visit your ailing mother. And suddenly, you are arrested and find yourself in the most infamous prison in the country held in solitary confinement by the intelligence service.

This outrageous turn of events happened to Haleh Esfandiari. Esfandiari who as we have heard is the director of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC., remains in solitary confinement in Evin Prison where authorities will not allow bail or release her, or allow her lawyer, Novel Laureate Shirin Ebadi to visit her, in violation not only of her internationally recognized human rights but of Iranian law.

Parma Azima, a journalist with Radio Free Europe also went home to visit her family and was arrested as she came to the airport to leave Iran. She has been released on bail but cannot leave the country.

Both women, who are dual citizens of US and Iran, have had their passports confiscated by the authorities. Azima, though out of prison, cannot leave Iran.

A third dual citizen, Kian Tajbakhsh, a journalist and a dual citizen, was also arrested and is held in Evin prison. All are charged with promoting civil society in Iran. Amnesty International is deeply concerned that in Iran, peacefully working for understanding and to support non governmental organizations is a crime. In Iran, the charges refer to professional activities such as attending international scholarly conferences, as evidence of “acting against national security”. Amnesty believes these are politically motivated charges and that all these people have the human right of free association and free expression.

In a very disturbing development, a fourth dual citizen, Ali Shakeri, a peace activist from Irvine California, was ‘disappeared” on May 8 as he was leaving Iran for Europe. That means he was picked up by government agenda who do not acknowledge holding him. He has not been heard from since his family received a mysterious call from him saying he was not charged. But his whereabouts remain unknown. Amnesty is extremely concerned about Mr. Shakeri. We hold the Iranian authorities responsible for the health and safety of all those detained and ‘disappeared’. We call on the Iranian authorities immediately to produce Mr. Shakeri in good health and treat him and all other detainees with dignity, allowing them access to their lawyers and visitors.

Amnesty International believes that Esfandiari and Tajbakhsh are both Prisoners of Conscience, held for their peaceful professional activities and they should be released immediately and unconditionally.

All of them, including Azima, should have their passports returned so that they can travel back to the countries in which they now make their homes. Iran must end its persecution and prosecution of dual national scholars and journalists.

On Sunday June 24th, Gaza-based Palestinian militants calling themselves the "Army of Islam" released a video (below) showing BBC news reporter Alan Johnston wearing an explosive belt and saying that his captors have threatened to detonate the belt if the hideout is stormed to force his release.

Alan has been missing since his abduction in Gaza City on March 12th of this year. In the video he says: "Captors tell me that very promising negotiations were ruined when the Hamas movement and the British government decided to press for a military solution to this kidnapping."

For more information on Alan's case, see Urgent Action 81/07 and the most recent follow up from June 25th. Please use this most recent follow up to write appeals urging for the safe release of Alan and sign BBC's petition and cover all your bases while you're at it.

Today is the Day of Action in Washington, DC, and around the country.  Amnesty International partnered with the ACLU, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, and the National Religious Campaign Against Torture for a rally and lobbying effort.

 Activists from every state in the union spent long hours travelling by bus, plane, and car to reach Washington, so they can talk to their congressional representatives and demand the restoration of habeus corpus and an end to torture, incommunicado detention, and human rights abuses in the United States. 

 I personally just spent over an hour in an orange jumpsuit with duct tape over my mouth in the DC heat to represent the prisoners at Guantánamo who cannot speak out.  But what can you do at home?

 Let Congress know that the America you believe in does not hold people indefinitely on the judgment of the executive.

Urge your elected officials to shut down Guantánamo. 

Sign the America I Believe In pledge to let officials know that the America we believe in does not torture or use cruel, inhumane treatment, does not hold people without charge, without trial, and without hope, and does not rob people of their basic dignity. 

Take action to ensure that Omar Mohammed Khalifa and an unknown number of other Libyan nationals held at Guantánamo are not forcibly returned to Libya where they would be at risk of torture and other ill treatment (Urgent Action 161/07).

Demand US authorities extend guaranteed freedoms to Ali al-Marri and other US detainees (Urgent Action 234/03).

There are bills in Congress right now that would restore habeus, shut down Guantánamo, and put the United States back into the position of leading the world on human rights.  So pay attention to the news, and take action.

~Jessica Beardsley

"I would rather be in the worst American jail than be a minister in my country" 

                                               — Libyan national Omar Mohammed Khalifa

Today has been an interesting day for UAs, with a good news update from Moldova (a small country between Romania and Ukraine) and a particularly unsettling action from our very own Guantanamo Bay detainment facility. To echo the theme of my earlier post, it's great having it be my job to keep on top of what's going on in the world. I'll do my best to make it easy for you, too.

First, the good news: Valentin Besleag (UA 145/07) was released from police detention in Moldova June 17. He said he has been charged with distributing agitational materials, which he suspects has something to do with the election materials he was carrying with him at the time of his arrest. Although he said he was held in an overcrowded, smoky cell, he wasn't tortured during his incarceration.

So keep in mind that Urgent Action campaigns can make a difference as I move on to the scary news: A new Urgent Action (UA 161/07) has been released for Omar Mohammed Khalifa and a number of other Libyan nationals in US custody in Guantanamo Bay. According to Amnesty, Khalifa and the other Libyan nationals are at risk of forcible return to Libya, where they are at serious risk of torture and ill-treatment.

If you're anything like me, this Urgent Action comes as something of a surprise. Since when is being transferred out of Guantanamo a problem?

While Khalifa has complained of sleep deprivation, low temperatures and humiliating body searches while in US custody, he faces far worse if transferred to Libya. The US Department of State reports that Libyan prisoners are often subjected to such methods of torture as being chained to the wall for hours, having lemon juice poured in open wounds and being beaten on the soles of their feet.

While recent news that Guantanamo may be closing in the near future is encouraging, we have to remember that something has to happen to all the prisoners currently held there. This UA is an important reminder that we as United States citizens still have responsibility for those prisoners even after they are no longer in our custody.

Rachel Dempsey

I'm going to be totally honest here. I'm about to admit something I feel kind of ashamed about.

When I'm at school, we get free copies of the New York Times delivered to our dining hall every morning. Reading the paper over my cereal and coffee is one of my favorite parts of the day - but most days I head straight to the Arts section for the crossword, skimming the Op-Eds on my way or even skipping the A section altogether. It's not that I don't care about what's happening in the world. Somehow, though, I'd rather start my morning with 6-down than with more distressing news from Sudan or Guantanamo.

So in case you, too, skip to the fun sections of the paper - don't worry, nobody has to know! - I wanted to call you attention to a case we got at the Urgent Action Network that's been picked up by a lot of major news sources.

Activist Chen Guangcheng, a self-taught lawyer imprisoned after accusing Chinese government officials of forcing women to get abortions, was beaten June 16 by other prisoners in the jail where he is being held (UA 158/07). Chen's attackers claim prison guards promised them special treatment for hitting him, kicking him and shaving his head - which in Chinese prisons is required of all inmates. Chen had refused to have his head shaved in protest of his wrongful detainment.

It's bad enough already, but to make things worse, Chen has been blind since infancy as a result of a childhood fever. He's been trying to draft an appeal to his sentence, but since he's blind he needs the help of his wife or lawyer, neither of whom have been allowed to see him for longer than 30 minutes per month. After his June 16 beating, Chen went on a hunger strike, refusing both food and water for some 76 hours. After receiving medical care he started eating again, but he remains imprisoned and subject to persecution.

I wrote last week about how bad China's rights record is, and unfortunately this is only one of several examples of how the Chinese government regularly stomps on its citizens' human rights. It's almost enough to drive me back to my crossword - except Amnesty makes it easy to act to help Chen (follow the link to UA 158/07, above) and other victims of human rights abuses.

The more people know about people like Chen, and speak out about abuses against them, the less likely such abuses are to continue. So instead of reading the paper tomorrow, read Chen's Urgent Action and write a quick letter to the Chinese authorities expressing your concern.

You'll stay on top of current events - and maybe help to shape them.

Rachel Dempsey

One of the men, Amr Tharwat, was expected to serve as an election observer for the Ibn Khaldun Center run by former Amnesty POC Saad Ibrahim. I've talked with workers at the center recently, and they say they are not certain whether the detention occurred because of the election or because of the men's involvement in an Islamist group that has challenged an extremist vision of Islam.

In a statement, Dr. Ibrahim described the situation:

"On Wednesday May 30th, Amr Tharwat, an Ibn Khaldun employee, was arrested by Egyptian State Security at his families' residence in Matereya. Mr. Tharwat was the major organizer of the recent Shura Election monitoring as well as the Ibn Khaldun public opinion polling that was carried out earlier this year. In addition to Mr. Tharwat, the Egyptian authorities arrested four other people staying at the house of Dr. Ahmed Sobhy (Adellatif Mohamed Saied, Ahmed Dahmash, Abdelhamed Abdelrahman, Ahmed El Sayed) and confiscated files, books, and computers that were found on the premises.

"Those arrested were originally taken to the Shubra El Khima police station, but in the seven days since their arrest nothing has been heard regarding there whereabouts or the nature of the charges filed against them. Several human rights organizations as well as the team of lawyers working on this case have made repeated requests to the Egyptian government regarding this issue and have received no response until now.

"Some speculate that the group was arrested due to their involvement in the religious 'Quranic' movement which stresses the importance of the Quran over the Sunna and Hadith. A website was recently constructed for the movement which has gained notoriety for criticizing fatwas issued by Al Azhar authorities."

More information about the case can be found in the following article in the New York Times.

Torture is systematic in Egypt. Most often it occurs in those early hours of detention when authorities have power to prevent access to detainees. In those rare cases when detainees are disappeared for a long period of time, it has to raise significant concern about whether they are being tortured. The Egyptian government has an obligation to both ensure the safety of these men while in detention and - if they are to be charged with a legitimate criminal offense -- to bring them into the proper Egyptian judicial system where they have access to family members, lawyers and medical care. Election season should be the time for people to express their voice, not to have the government take it away.

Welcome back from the weekend!

This week is going to be a busy one for us here at Amnesty, with tomorrow's Day of Action to Denounce Torture and Restore Habeas Corpus and other Restore Habeas events throughout the week. Check out the Denounce Torture website for ways to get involved, even if you can't come all the way to Washington to lobby Congress.

And since it's Monday, it's time for Part 2 of the Human Rights Summer Reading Series! In honor of Restore Habeas, this week I'm going to focus on books that deal with domestic human rights issues.

The Plot Against America (2004), Philip Roth - This book imagines a World War II-era United States in which Nazi sympathizer Charles Lindbergh has been elected president. The narrator, named Philip Roth, watches as his Jewish family becomes increasingly threatened by anti-Semitic sentiments and government policies that marginalize Jews and seek to assimilate them. I was ambivalent about some of the decisions Roth made in terms of pace and plotting, but The Plot Against America is a remarkably thoughtful, subtle meditation on how the right situation can lead an entire society into policies of persecution and ethnic intolerance.

In Cold Blood (1965), Truman Capote - Issues surrounding the death penalty are almost an afterthought in this true-crime novel, which focuses on a quadruple murder in small-town Kansas. But Capote gets deeply into the history and motivations of the two murderers, one of whom suffered a shockingly abusive childhood and the other of whom may or may not have developed a personality disorder as the result of a motorcycle accident. Presents a balanced look at both sides of the death penalty debate and gives real insight into what it's like to be on death row.

The Once and Future King (1958), T.H. White - Sure, this book is a sometimes absurd fantasy story set in King Arthur's court, but it actually deals with a lot of issues relevant to the human rights situation in the modern U.S. White is particularly taken with the question of whether "might makes right," and King Arthur struggles with how to balance his power, his personal life, and his responsibility to his people. Bush could learn a lesson or two from the ideas about the importance of adhering to civil law buried in the love triangle between Arthur, Lancelot and Guinevere.

The Trial (1925), Franz Kafka - The ultimate novel on themes of habeas corpus, arbitrary detainment and unfair trial. The Trial centers around K, an ordinary man who one day is arrested and imprisoned without having committed any apparent crime. The story of his subsequent attempts to be freed, or at the very least to find out what he has been accused of, is surreal and often confusing, but this alternately funny and perplexing book is a must-read for anyone interested in human rights.

These four books should be enough to get you thinking about the state of human rights here in the United States - and why it matters. And once you've been inspired, take action!

Show your support for your favorite candidate in the 2008 presidential election, to make sure someone you don't agree with doesn't end up in office. Call for clemency for prisoners on death row to prevent the state from killing human beings in cold blood. Sign the pledge for "The America I Believe In," letting Bush know you don't believe might means right. Or send a message to your elected officials urging them to restore habeas rights so innocent people don't end up like K.

And most of all, keep reading - and thinking about what you read. Even fiction can have incredibly important things to say about the world we all share.

Rachel Dempsey 

Recent unrest in the Mexican state of Oaxaca (pronounced wa-ha-ca, for those not familiar with the word) have led to military action and threatened the rights of those living in the province.   

The conflict started in May 2006 with teachers striking for better conditions and pay, but soon grew as other groups joined who accuse Governor Ulises Ruiz of electoral fraud and abuse of power. 

Initial demands were simply for better teaching conditions, but grew to include the governor's resignation in June, after police attacked one of the demonstrations.

Oaxaca was embroiled in conflict for seven months, which resulted in at least eighteen deaths and the occupation of the capital city of Oaxaca by the Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca (Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca).

On October 27 three men were killed in what has been described as a shootout between protesters and a group of armed men, or a shooting by a group of armed men against unarmed protesters.  Those killed were Bradley Roland Will, an independent American journalist, Professor Emilio Alonso Fabián and Esteban López Zurita.  This prompted President Vicente Fox to send federal police to Oaxaca, after months of attempting to stay neutral in what he considered a local issue. 

The riot police finally took back the city on October 30, after five months of occupation by the APPO and protesting groups.  On November 25, a clash between police and protesters resulted in the detention of 149 people, many of whom were not involved in the protests or violent activity.  A total of 349 protesters were arrested over the course of the conflict.  There were widespread reports of use of excessive force, arbitrary detention, torture and fabrication of criminal charges against protesters. Federal, state and municipal authorities responsible for abuses have not been held to account.

Now human rights defenders of the Comité de Liberación 25 de Noviembre (Committee for the Liberation of Detainees of 25 November) working to free those detained because of the protests and ensure fair trials are being threatened.  You can take action urging authorities to protect Jesús Manuel Grijalva and Mayen Arellanes by going to Urgent Action 155/07. 

Journalist Misael Sánchez Sarmiento, who writes for the Oaxacan newspaper Tiempo, was shot and wounded on 12 June near his home, on the outskirts of Oaxaca City. Amnesty International is concerned that he is at risk of further attacks, and that his life is in grave danger.  To call for an investigation and ask authorities to provide protection, go to Urgent Action 151/07.

Y para acciones urgentes en español, vaya aquí.  

~Jessica Beardsley

Since starting my internship here at the Urgent Action Network, I've become a real downer at parties.

On Wednesday I went to my godmother's house for dinner. As we chopped veggies in the kitchen, she told me about Armenia, where she is currently living. Then she happened to mention that she is not allowed to travel to neighboring Iran.

"Two people are scheduled to be stoned there tomorrow," I said. "For adultery."

Needless to say, it was pretty much a conversation killer. My godmother looked at me in astonishment.

"Why isn't that front-page news?" she asked.

Good question.

Fortunately, the news today is promising — the execution by stoning of Mokarrameh Ebrahimi and her partner, scheduled for yesterday morning at 9 am, was stayed less than 24 hours before it was due to occur, due in part to an outpouring of protest from around the world.

But according to the Stop Stoning Forever Campaign, a network of women's rights activists and lawyers working to change Islamic Penal Code to disallow stoning as a punishment, the sentence is still legally in effect. And an article Wednesday in Metro New York described the case of 17-year-old Du'a Khalil Aswad, an Iraqi girl who was stoned to death April 7 for spending the night with a boy.

While stoning seems like it should be a relic of, well, the Stone Age, it is still accepted as a punishment for adultery in a few parts of the Muslim world, including in recent years in Iran, Iraq and Nigeria — although of course I don't mean to imply it is somehow inherent to Islam. In Iran, Stop Stoning Forever has identified nine women and two men awaiting death by stoning. In Iraq, honor killings such as execution by stoning are symptomatic of the poor state of women's rights throughout the country.

Yet even my godmother, who lives right next to Iran, was shocked to hear that death by stoning takes place.

Stoning is such a gut-wrenchingly violent form of execution that it's a lot more pleasant to ignore it than to confront it face-on. In Iran, victims of stoning are wrapped in a sheet and partially buried, and then have rocks thrown at them until they die.

But as the case of Mokarrameh Ebrahimi shows, we do have the power to influence whether this practice continues. Because the Urgent Action Network didn't recieve notification of her impending execution until two days before it was scheduled to happen, we didn't release a UA for this case, but there are still plenty of ways to make yourself heard, especially now that the sentence has been stayed.

Visit the Stop Stoning forever website to sign a petition voicing your objection to stoning in Iran, or write Iranian officials through Amnesty's Online Action Center letting them know how you feel.

Stoning may not be front-page news yet, but it's not too late to save Mokarrameh Ebrahimi and her partner.

Rachel Dempsey

Welcome back to part III of our tab on prisoners of conscience in Viet Nam.

Today we'll take a look at Bloc 8406, possibly one the coolest names ever for a coalition of political parties and individuals pushing for democratic reform in Viet Nam.

The Bloc

Written on 8 April 2006 (hence the name), the Bloc 8406 manifesto disparages the practices of the Communist Party of Viet Nam (CPV) and calls for a multi-party system and a restructuring of social laws to international standards.

Of the original 118 signatories (some pictured left), many today still experience harassment, interrogation, restrictions on movement and confiscation of tools of communication such as computers and cell phones. Several are currently serving prison terms, others are incarcerated and awaiting charges or trial, which under Vietnamese law can last up to 16 months. Bloc 8406 has received the open support of 50 US Congressmembers, hundreds of other dissidents living in Viet Nam and hundreds of others as well.

Internet dissidence 

Based on the internet as is much of Viet Nam's new wave of activism, Bloc 8406 has seen several of its members jailed as a part of the crackdown on internet dissidence which peaked last year. Why so popular? Well, the internet serves as a difficult-to-regulate medium that is ideal to spread information fast-- until your single-party authoritarian government gets their IT guys on it that is.

This new class of activists is largely young and computer-educated, meaning that this attack on internet dissidents is coming down mainly on the middle class and the college educated... so pretty much the CPV is kind of shooting itself in the foot.  Check out Amnesty's campaign against internet censorship, Irrepressible.info. 

Here are some Bloc members who are currently in prison:

Bloc co-founder Father Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly, a 60 year-old Catholic priest and total renegade, is currently serving 8 years. His March 30th trial of this year was open to foreign press who watched proceedings on a closed-circuit TV in a closed room. Journalists were able to catch this video recorded directly from the television (around the 00:50 mark, things get pretty nuts. If you've been to any Vietnamese neighborhood recently, you've probably seen this image on t-shirts). Amnesty believes the charges against Father Ly of "conducting propoganda" are "politically motivated" in order to silence and scare off other critics.

Truong Quoc Huy, 25, got accused of attempting to overthrow the government for chatting online. He was arrested in 2005, held incommunicado for nine months and then re-arrested last year. He's still awaiting trial. 

Le Thi Cong Nhan, 28 and Nguyen Van Dai, 38, (pictured below respectively) both lawyers who are all about human rights, are serving 4 and 5 years respectively.

As of today, the number of prisoners of conscience in Viet Nam runs high. My job here is to keep us informed and make sure these good folks don't get forgotten. Come back soon for part IV when we'll discuss religious persecution, particularly of the Montagnards. And don't forget that Vietnamese President Triet is on his way here this week (check out tab II for info)! Why not write to our dear President and encourage him to address Viet Nam's human rights violations? Here's the address in case you forgot: 

comments@whitehouse.gov                                                                                                                            The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Make sure your subject line summarizes what you want to say since they get so much mail. Something like "Address human rights violations in Viet Nam" will probably do it. If you need some inspiration, check out Amnesty's 2007 report on Viet Nam.

Until next time...

You've probably heard about the welcome news from Sudan- the government in Khartoum has agreed to talks on Darfur, as well as a 20,000-strong AU-UN hybrid peacekeeping force.  However, some remain skeptical, seeing as the Sudanese government has backed out of agreements in the past.

 More than 200,000 people have already died in the conflict in Darfur, and more than 2 million have been displaced from their homes.  Murder, rape, pillage, and forced displacement continue to be used as weapons by the Janjaweed militias, supported by the Sudanese government.

 An agreement on paper will not protect the people of Darfur.  Amnesty International is calling on the government in Khartoum and the UN to ensure the safety of civilians in Darfur. 

 In particular, the hybrid force should have:

-The capacity to protect civilians at risk, in compliance with international law

-A strong human rights mandate, with the capacity to monitor, investigate, and report on abuses, including rape

-A mandate to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) to bring war criminals to justice

-The capacity to disarm and demobilize Janjaweed militias, and deter them from attacking across the border into Chad

Recently, incursions into Chad have led thousands of Chadians to flee to refugee camps, increasing the numbers already there.  The Janjaweed still roam free in many places. 

Hopefully, this new agreement will relieve the situation in Darfur.  For suggestions on what you can do to help Darfur, check out Rachel's blog entry here.   

 For other actions relating to Sudan, Urgent Action 114/07 is calling for the commutation of death sentences for minors, and look at Urgent Action 157/07 to express concern over incommunicado detention of journalists and lawyers in Sudan. 

Environmental activists talk a lot about your carbon footprint, which basically just means the amount of carbon dioxide you cause to be released into the atmosphere through your everyday activities — driving a car, taking a shower, eating a bagel, whatever. It's a good way to think about how the mundane things you do as a part of your daily routine can actually be really damaging to the environment, without your even realizing.

Well, the same is true for human rights. The decisions you make in your everyday life leave a human rights footprint that can be viewed as a measure your personal impact on human rights conditions throughout the world.

Yesterday, I talked about how you can reduce your human rights footprint by making greener choices. Today, I have a few ideas for how to make sure your money goes to causes you support — instead of funding human rights violations.

• Pay attention to production: When I think about a victim of human rights abuses, I o