Opinion: The global human rights regime has collapsed - Guesmi, Haythem (Al Jazeera, 2023)
Opinion: Amid a climate emergency, seemingly endless conflict, and consequent refugee crises, the glaring absence of an effective global strategy to safeguard the most fundamental rights of impoverished and marginalised populations across the world has made it clear that the concept of “human rights”, as sacralised by the liberal West, has lost all meaning and purpose – for everyone, but especially for those of us in the Global South.
Keywords: 2023-09 September

Liquidation of the SOVA Center for Information and Analysis - International Federation of Human Rights (International Federation for Human Rights, 2023)
The Observatory has been informed about the arbitrary dissolution of the SOVA Center for Information and Analysis (SOVA Center), a Moscow-based human rights organisation specialised in monitoring of hate crimes, nationalism, xenophobia and racism, freedom of religion and belief, as well as anti-extremism legislation.
Keywords: 2023-09 September

Q & A: Why US advocates want more power to probe Indigenous boarding schools - Stepansky, Joseph (Al Jazeera, 2023)
Ben Barnes, chief of the Shawnee Tribe, tells Al Jazeera that advocates do not want the truth ‘sifted through a sieve’. Starting from around 1819 and continuing through the 1960s, generations of Indigenous children were separated from their families and sent to the institutions, run by government or missionary organisations. Washington released the results of a first-of-its-kind investigation into the boarding schools and their policies.
Keywords: 2023-09 September; Boarding schools; Forced child removal; Shawnee Tribe

Trans-Inclusive Culture: Guidance on advancing trans inclusion for museums, galleries, archives and heritage organisations | Research Centre for Museums and Galleries (RCMG) - McLeod, Suzanne; Sandell, Richard; Cowan, Sharon; Scott, E.J.; Cuzzola, Cesare; Plumb, Sarah (Research Centre for Museums and Galleries (RCMG). University of Leicester, 2023)
In the context of growing uncertainty and anxiety surrounding trans-inclusive practice in the cultural sector, the University of Leicester’s Research Centre for Museums and Galleries (RCMG) – working with a team of legal scholars and experts in inclusion, equality and ethics – has developed comprehensive guidance on advancing trans inclusion for museums, galleries, archives and heritage organisations. The book is downloadable for free.
Keywords: 2023-09 September

Access to Justice - Neistat, Anya; Jilani, Hina; Romero, Marianna (2023)
In its 75 years, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has helped many find justice -- either by changing laws or providing opportunities for people to claim their rights. But there are still places where accessing justice is difficult or impossible for those seeking it. In this episode, we hear from those who continue to uphold the promise of the Declaration.
Keywords: 2023-09 September

Lebanon: Comedian Arrested for Critical Jokes - Amnesty International (Amnesty International, 2023)
Lebanese authorities’ arrest and investigation of prominent comedian Nour Hajjar, solely in retaliation for his jokes, represents a new escalation in Lebanon’s crackdown on public criticism, the Coalition to Defend Freedom of Expression in Lebanon of which Amnesty International is a member, said today.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Pierre Elliott Trudeau had a secret unit to spy on Quebec separatists - Serebrin, Jacob (DayFR Euro, 2023)
According to an article that has just been published in English in an academic journal, Prime Minister Trudeau’s office created an espionage unit in the 1970s to monitor Quebec sovereignists. The firm had also asked the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to pass on information to it – a request the defunct RCMP security service reportedly resisted.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Mapping Africa’s coups d’etat across the years - AJLabs (AlJazeera, 2023)
Majority of the world’s coups in Africa with at least 106 coups across Africa since 1950 and 108 unsuccessful attempts.
Keywords: 2023-09 September

Ugandan authorities must drop charges in death penalty case under Anti-Homosexuality Act - Amnesty International (Amnesty International, 2023)
It is deeply disturbing that the Ugandan authorities are prosecuting people based on their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Decades After Dictatorship, Chile Mounts Search for Hundreds Who Vanished - Bonnefoy, Pascale (The New York Times, 2023)
President Gabriel Boric is announcing a new national search plan ahead of the 50th anniversary of the coup that toppled the government and led to the disappearance and killing of thousands.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Association of Relatives of the Disappeared; Bones; Boric, Gabriel; Chile; Coups D'Etat and Attempted Coups D'Etat; DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid); Defense and Military Forces; Detainees; Fernando Ortiz; Human Rights and Human Rights Violations; Kidnapping and Hostages; Latin America; Missing Persons; Murders, Attempted Murders and Homicides; Pinochet Ugarte, Augusto; Political Prisoners; Politics and Government; Suits and Litigation (Civil); Torture

Australia to head to polls in October as PM confirms Voice referendum date - Morse, Callan; Cross, Jarred (National Indigenous Times, 2023)
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed the date of the upcoming Voice to parliament referendum, announcing the vote will be held on October 14. Australians will head to the referendum polls for the first time in 24 years on the second Saturday in October to decide whether to enshrine an Indigenous Voice in Australia's constitution.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Government; Indigenous Australians; Indigenous Matters

Sixty years of sound: The cassette’s past, present and future in Egypt - Simon, Andrew (Al Jazeera, 2023)
On its birthday, Al Jazeera looks beyond the cassette’s invention in Europe and at its life in Egypt. Adawiya, Imam and Kishk used the technology to circumvent censorship and reach a mass audience in the absence of Egyptian radio, which came under state control in 1934 and refused to give them airtime.
Keywords: 2023-09 September

Indigenous Voice to Parliament vote set in Australia - The Associated Press (ICT News, 2023)
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the referendum date, triggering just over six weeks of intensifying campaigning by both sides of the argument
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Mexico: Rights experts ‘outraged’ over attacks on women activists - UN News (UN News, 2023)
A group of UN independent human rights experts on Wednesday urged the Government of Mexico to investigate and prosecute those who attack and kill women activists searching for their missing relatives. |
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Canada kept vast documents with the Chinese Exclusion Act. So why couldn't I find my great-grandpa? - Wong, Teresa (CBC News, 2023)
When Teresa Wong went looking for information on her great-grandpa, she was surprised by what she couldn’t find — and what she discovered in herself.
Keywords: 2023-09 September

Arbitrary detentions continue in Venezuela - Amnesty International (Amnesty International, 2023)
Venezuela: Arbitrary detentions continue as a tool of government control and repression. In the new report, Life detained: Politically motivated arbitrary detentions continue in Venezuela Amnesty International denounces the Nicolás Maduro.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Countries must safeguard children’s rights from climate change and environmental damage - UN committee - Amnesty International (Amnesty International, 2023)
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has concluded that countries must urgently implement measures to address the damage and threat to children’s rights from climate change and environmental degradation.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Child Rights

Saudi Arabia: Man Sentenced to Death for Tweets - Human Right Watch (Human Rights Watch, 2023)
A Saudi court has sentenced a man to death based solely on his Twitter and YouTube activity.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Human Rights

93 possible unmarked graves discovered at former Beauval residential school - Paradis, Danielle (APTN, 2023)
English River First Nation in Saskatchewan announced Tuesday it has discovered nearly 100 potential unmarked graves at the site of a former residential school.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Child abuse; Child death; English River First Nation; Residential Schools; Saskatchewan

Little space for dissent as Algeria sends researcher, journalist to jail - Simon Speakman Cordall (Al Jazeera, 2023)
Canadian-Algerian researcher among those sentenced for ‘publishing sensitive information’.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; 2023-09 September

'First of its kind': Scottish museum to return 'stolen' totem to native home - Elliards, Xander (The National, 2023)
A CEREMONY has been held to prepare a “stolen” 37ft memorial totem pole for its return to Canada from Scotland in what is said to be the first transfer of its kind from a UK institution.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Indigenous Matters; National Museums Scotland; Nisga'a Nation; Nisga’a Lisims Government; Scotland; United Kingdom

Under Pressure From Progressives, US Declassifies Documents Related to Chile Coup - Johnson, Jake (Common Dreams, 2023)
"Huge congratulations to the U.S. members who made this call from the delegation, and to all those who have fought like hell to declassify these files and bring justice for the bloody crimes of September 1973."
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Chile; Declassification; Dictatorship; Pinochet

France further relaxes access to archives from brutal Algerian war - Agence France-Presse; euronews (euronews, 2023)
Cases of abuse and killings involving minors will now be open to further scrutiny after decades of campaigning.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Algeria

Family of former British PM apologises for links to slavery - News Agencies (Al Jazeera, 2023)
The apology by family of William Gladstone comes as many descendants of African slaves have sought reparations.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Caribbean; Enslavement; Guyana; Human trafficking; Indentured Labour; United Kingdomw

Stolen Nisga'a memorial pole about to start journey home from Scottish museum | CBC News - Owen, Brenna (CBC, 2023)
A memorial totem pole belonging to members of the Nisga'a Nation in northwestern British Columbia is about to begin its journey home from the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, where it has been on display for nearly a century.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Canada; Nisga'a Nation; Scotland; United Kingdom

On the March on Washington's 60th anniversary, watch how CBS News covered the Civil Rights protest in 1963 - CBS News - CBS News (CBS News, 2023)
On Aug. 28, 1963, Walter Cronkite began his evening news broadcast with a vivid description of the March on Washington. The day would come to be a watershed moment in the equal rights movement for Black Americans - Includes an 18-minute video recording.
Keywords: 2023-10 October

Training - "Ready-Or Not" Cultural Heritage Disaster Preparedness Project Info Sessions - Marchese, Ryan (Society of American Archivists, 2023)
The "Ready-Or Not" project funded by the California State Library offers free, on-site emergency preparedness consultations. Consultants address specific organizational concerns and provide tailored assessments to help collections staff meet their preparedness goals. The first training sessions have been recorded and are freely available on-line. The upcoming sessions will also be made available on-line.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Disaster preparedness

President of Guyana demands slavery reparations ahead of apology from plantation owner descendants - Wilkinson, Bert; Associated Press (CityNews Toronto, 2023)
Guyana president Irfaan Ali on Thursday lashed out at the descendants of European slave traders, saying those who profited from the cruel, trans-Atlantic slave trade should offer to pay reparations to today’s generations.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Documents linked to Quaker-run boarding schools to be digitized - Henao, Luis Andres (ICT Indian Country Today, 2023)
A coalition advocating for Native people traumatized by an oppressive system of boarding schools for Native youths plans to digitize 20,000 archival pages related to schools in that system that were operated by the Quakers.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Canada; Child abuse; Digitization; Medical Records; Residential Schools; United States

Ontario’s information watchdog is considering ‘potential next steps’ on alleged deleted Greenbelt emails - McIntosh, Emma (The Narwhal, 2023)
An audit found political staffers in the Ontario government allegedly deleted records and used personal emails during interactions with development lobbyists
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Government; Ontario

Conference - Does Confronting Our History Build a Better Future? - On Line 2023-10-27 - Zócalo Public Square (Zócalo Public Square, 2023)
Upcoming Events - How Should Societies Remember Their Sins? | Friday, October 27, 2023 | Los Angeles In-Person | Streaming Online | Attempts to confront difficult history appear to be dividing the United States and entangling communities in cultural and legal conflict. But historians, social justice activists, and many others argue that grappling with the sins of the past, and the way they reverberate into the present, is a necessary foundation for reimagining the future. What are the best and most creative ways societies are using history to make a better tomorrow?
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Ukraine: Russian court upholds 13-year sentence against Ukrainian human rights defender Maksym Butkevych - Amnesty International (Amnesty International, 2023)
An appeal hearing at a Moscow court on Tuesday (22 August) which has upheld the 13-year sentence imposed on Maksym Butkevych, a Ukrainian human rights defender, is a grave miscarriage of justice Amnesty International said today.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Russia

UK cannot ignore calls for slavery reparations, says leading UN judge - Mohdin, Aamna (The Guardian, 2023)
Exclusive: Patrick Robinson says reparation for transatlantic slavery ‘is required by history and is required by law’
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Slavery; UK news; United Nations; World news

Cambodia: Problematic laws and restrictions on information are threatening digital rights - EngageMedia (Global Voices, 2023)
As internet use and digital technologies flourished in Cambodia, more people are relying on social media to access news and information and to exercise their rights to free expression.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Saudi Arabia: Mass Killings of Migrants at Yemen Border | Human Rights Watch - Human Rights Watch (Human Rights Watch, 2023)
Systematic Abuses of Ethiopians May Amount to Crimes Against Humanity
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Ethiopia; Yemen

Liberia Marks 20 Years Since the End of Its Civil War. Will a War Crimes Court Ever Be Created? - MacDougall, Clair (Pass Blue, 2023)
Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee stood behind a wooden podium in a cramped conference room and recounted her narrow escape from one of the worst massacres in Liberia’s civil war, a devastating conflict that ended 20 years ago this August.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Court

Meet Bonnie Lysyk, the author of the bombshell report on Ontario’s Greenbelt and developer influence - McIntosh, Emma; Syed, Fatima (The Narwhal, 2023)
The outgoing Ontario auditor general sat down with The Narwhal for an exit interview about her decade of environmental oversight, what her critics say behind closed doors and the possibility of another Greenbelt report
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Ontario

Respect families’ right to commemorate loved ones killed during uprising without reprisals on one-year anniversary - Amnesty International (Amnesty International, 2023)
In new research, Amnesty International details how the Iranian authorities have been subjecting victims’ families to arbitrary arrest and detention, imposing cruel restrictions on peaceful gatherings at grave sites, and destroying victims’ gravestones.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Future Bleak for Rohingya in Bangladesh, Myanmar - Human Rights Watch (Human Rights Watch, 2023)
One million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh face little prospect of safely returning home, six years since the Myanmar military launched a campaign of mass atrocities in Rakhine State on August 25, 2017.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Refugees; Rohinga

India to revamp colonial-era criminal laws to end 'signs of slavery' - Chakravarty, Pratap (RFI, 2023)
India’s ruling Hindu nationalists have proposed a legislation to remove archaic references to the British monarchy and other 'signs of slavery' to protect the constitutional rights of the Indian people.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Mass Arrests of Women’s Rights Defenders - Human Rights Watch (Human Rights Watch, 2023)
Iranian authorities have arrested at least a dozen activists and increased pressure on a wide range of peaceful dissidents ahead of the anniversary of the nationwide protests that swept the country in 2022.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Erfurt in Germany was Home to a Vibrant Jewish Community Annihilated in 1349 - Medieval Histories (Medieval Histories, 2023)
Since the Middle Ages, Erfurt in Germany was home to several well-documented Jewish communities. Each wiped out by pogroms followed by the holocaust, the city tells a horrifying history.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

The world has a big appetite for AI – but we really need to know the ingredients - Naughton, John (The Observer, 2023)
Much ‘artificial intelligence’ harvests original creative work by humans. Regulators must demand transparency about training data
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Artificial intelligence (AI); ChatGPT; Computing; Technology

New Communism Museum Invites Visitors To 'Travel Back' To Cold-War Bulgaria - Tizard, Will (2023)
Faded Communist Party signs, chipped kitchenware, and political speeches on a dusty record player are on display at Evgeni Mladenov's newly opened communism museum in the Bulgarian mountain village of Banite. The time capsule brings visitors back to the 1980s and immerses them in the Cold War past.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Building a digital army: UN peacekeepers fight deadly disinformation - UN News (UN News, 2023)
With smartphones, editing apps, and innovative approaches, some UN peacekeeping operations across the world are building a “digital army” aimed at combating mis- and disinformation on social media networks and beyond.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Disinformation an 'easy sell' in post-coup Niger - Agence France-Presse (Zawya, 2023)
From false rumours and misleading videos to manipulated audio clips, AFP has debunked over a dozen social media claims
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Russia shuts down human rights group Sakharov Center | Politics News | Al Jazeera - Al Jazeera; News Agency (Al Jazeera, 2023)
Moscow City Court said it was dissolving the organisation for illegally hosting conferences and exhibitions.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Promoting a people-centred aid system: Impact’s commitment to producing community-driven evidence for humanitarian decision making - Impact Initiatives (Relief Web, 2023)
In recent years, there has been growing momentum around putting people and communities at the centre of humanitarian action, packaged under a series of Accountability to Affected People (AAP) principles and commitments.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Scientists lament Southern Ocean ‘data desert’, just as climate crisis brings frightening changes - Readfearn, Graham (The Guardian, 2023)
Loss of sea ice and rising temperatures in the ocean around Antarctica have a huge effect on the Earth’s climate, but the ability to track them is lagging
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Antarctica; Climate crisis; Environment; Marine life; Oceans; Polar regions; Sea ice

Archives and Museums for Reconciliation and Peacebuilding in Timor-Leste | UNESCO - Unesco (Unesco, 2023)
On 10 August 2023, UNESCO organized a National Stakeholders’ Meeting on Conflict Reconciliation and Peacebuilding in Timor-Leste, with a focus on the role of archives and alternative sites for history and peace education in the country.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Harnessing the potential of human-in- the-loop artificial intelligence for risk anticipation and violence prevention - United Nations Development Programme (United Nations Development Programme, 2023)
Conflicts evolve at such a rapid pace that the amount of data produced by conflict or crisis situations is simply overwhelming. Because of the sheer amount of data and the pace at which they are being produced, human beings are unable to track crisis evolutions and manage effective decision-making processes.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Russia fines Google for not deleting 'fake information' about Ukraine conflict - Reuters (Ynetnews, 2023)
Russia on Thursday fined Alphabet's Google 3 million roubles ($31,845) for not deleting what it said was fake information about what Moscow calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine, the TASS news agency reported. A host of sites are under scrutiny in Russia for failing to remove content that Moscow deems illegal.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

CEO regrets her firm took on Facebook moderation work after staff ‘traumatised’ - Ambrose, Tom (The Guardian, 2023)
Outsourcer Sama facing legal cases brought by Kenya-based employees alleging exposure to graphic content
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Africa; Business; Digital media; Facebook; Kenya; Media; Meta; Social networking; Technology; Technology sector

Jordan's fight for online freedom of expression - Global Voices MENA (Global Voices, 2023)
Jordan's endorsement of the controversial "Cybercrime Law" fuels concerns about online freedom and data privacy. It also echoes a larger conflict between security and rights.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Belarus detains national archivists - Green, Lincoln (Daily Kos, 2023)
RFE/RL’s Belarus service reports that today Belarus’s secret police, called the KGB, detained at least seven employees of the National Archives of Belarus, including the deputy director of science and multiple department heads. No reason have been given.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Combat Anti-Black Racism on Social Media - Human Rights Watch (Human Rights Watch, 2023)
The Chinese government should acknowledge and condemn anti-Black racism prevalent on the Chinese internet and adopt measures to promote tolerance and fight prejudice.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

An 1837 Portrait of an Enslaved Child, Obscured by Overpainting for a Century, Has Been Restored and Acquired by the Met - Cascone, Sarah (Artnet News, 2023)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has acquired Bélizaire and the Frey Children, a rare 19th-century portrait with an enslaved person.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; New Orleans Metropolitan Museum of Art; Racism in Art

Guidance Note on Data Responsibility and Accountability to Affected People in Humanitarian Action - The Centre for Humanitarian Data (The Centre for Humanitarian Data, 2023)
Data responsibility is the safe, ethical, and effective management of personal and non-personal data for operational response and is therefore central to the humanitarian system’s Accountability to Affected People (AAP).
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Colonisation by capital - Campbell, Rob (E-Tangata, 2023)
“Imprisonment and forced labour, here and for Indigenous people in the Pacific Islands, were a deliberate means of breaking property and traditional work practice into the mould of capital.” — Rob Campbell reviews 'Blood and Dirt'.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Aoteoroa; Prison Labour

‘There’s no such thing as a neutral algorithm’: the existential AI exhibition confronting Sydney - Gorman, Alyx (The Guardian, 2023)
Artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s Atmospheric Memory allows visitors to interact with generative tech – and become part of the show in unexpected ways
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Art; Art and design; Artificial intelligence (AI); Australia news; Computing; Culture; Sydney; Technology

‘Macabre curiosities’: top US medical museum confronts skeletons of its past - Helmore, Edward (The Observer, 2023)
Mütter Museum in Philadelphia at centre of ethics dispute over provenance of its collection of skulls, fetuses and body parts
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Culture; Museums; Philadelphia; US news; World news

The Censors Down Under: The ACMA Gambit on Misinformation and Disinformation - Kampmark, Binoy (International Policy Digest, 2023)
Can or should countries legislate disinformation? Australia just might try.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

A tsunami of AI misinformation will shape next year’s knife-edge elections - Naughton, John (The Observer, 2023)
If you thought social media had a hand in getting Trump elected, watch what happens when you throw AI into the mix
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Artificial intelligence (AI); ChatGPT; Computing; OpenAI; Politics; Social media; Technology; US elections 2024; US news; US politics

Cultural appropriation and the erasure of cultural diversity - Pita Vaca, Irene Mairemí; Collazos Gottret, Isabel (Global Voices, 2023)
Cultural appropriation is a sensitive topic, prone to endless misinterpretations, because it touches the heart of who we are: a mixture of cultures difficult to unravel. Questioning “the cultural” in Bolivia provokes resistance, due to its strong intimate and identity component and, above all, because we do not know the histories of the cultures that surround us.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Genocide; Holocaust

California dreamin’: scenes of Black joy and leisure in the Jim Crow era – in pictures - The Guardian (The Guardian, 2023)
Historian Dr Alison Rose Jefferson has collected archival photos from the Jim Crow era that bring to life the stories of African Americans who settled by the beach, creating popular gathering places that challenged white supremacy.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; California; Race; US news

Klaemet Save: Vanatu's New Climate Brand For A Resilient Future - Global Voices MENA (Relief Web, 2023)
Vanuatu has a new brand identity for climate information – Klaemet Save. This new brand has been developed to focus attention on information products that increase the ability of Vanuatu’s people to plan for and respond to climate impacts.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Neurotech: should our brains have rights? - Geneva Solutions - Langrand, Michelle (Geneva Solutions, 2023)
As technology unlocks the doors to our minds, scientists urge for human rights protection. Imagine being able to watch your long-lost childhood memories on a screen or suppress a traumatic experience.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

‘Our history is rotting away’: the newspaper archivists preserving Nigeria’s past - Adetayo, Ope (The Guardian, 2023)
Coups, civil wars, dictators, democracy … all the headlines that tell the country’s story since independence in 1960 are to be saved for posterity by an ambitious archive project
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Africa; Global development; Media; Newspapers; Newspapers & magazines; Nigeria; World news

Dissident republicans claim to have data from PSNI breach, says chief constable - Carroll, Rory (The Guardian, 2023)
Dissident republicans claim to possess some of the information from the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s “industrial-scale” data breach, the chief constable says.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Northern Ireland; Police; UK news

Even in a democracy like Canada, journalists often face efforts to keep information from the public - Fenlon, Brodie (CBC News, 2023)
Media spend time and money fighting lack of access, publication bans, secret trials.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Democracy

Disinformation fuels church protest against gender equality in North Macedonia - Metamorphosis Foundation (Global Voices, 2023)
The iconography of June 29 protest, organized by Macedonian Orthodox Church and right-wing political parties, included religious and nationalist symbols, Russian flags and participation by pro-Kremlin politicians and associations.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

'All Of It Must Be Recorded': Still No Justice Three Years After Crackdown On Belarus Protests - Tizard, Will (2023)
On the third anniversary of a disputed presidential vote in Belarus, opposition activists demanded justice for protesters jailed and beaten in a brutal crackdown.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

UN experts demand information on nine imprisoned human rights defenders - UN News (UN News, 2023)
UN-appointed independent rights experts have called on the Chinese Government to provide information about nine Tibetan human rights defenders serving prisoner sentences of up to 11 years.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Paradigm Initiative joins the National Coalition on Freedom of Expression and Content Moderation in Kenya - Zawya (Zamya, 2023)
The national coalition aims to address critical issues surrounding freedom of expression, content moderation and dis/misinformation in the digital age
Keywords: 2023-08 August

India passes data protection law amid surveillance concerns - Blassy Boben (Zamya, 2023)
The law will allow companies to transfer some users' data abroad while giving the government power to seek information from firms
Keywords: 2023-08 August

PQ to table legislation seeking expenses of No campaign during 1995 referendum - Denoncourt, Jean-Philippe; Canadian Press (Montreal Gazette, 2023)
The result of the referendum was so close that supporters have often accused the No side of having bent the rules on campaign financing.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Fraud; Quebec; Referendum

DIFC issues first-of-its-kind adequacy decision regarding the California Consumer Privacy Act - Fahaam, Tariq Al (Zamya, 2023)
The decision facilitates personal data transfers between DIFC and California-based entities in accordance with the DP Law 2020
Keywords: 2023-08 August

African tech startups take aim at AI 'colonialism' - Harrisberg, Kim; News, Reuters (2023)
While fears of data colonialism - the appropriation of Global South data by Big Tech - are not unique to Africa, tech researchers say weak AI regulations across the continent heighten the risk
Keywords: 2023-08 August

LGBTQ+ veterans file civil rights suit against Pentagon over discriminatory discharges - Kegu, Jessica; Axelrod, Jim; Samu, Shewna (CBS News, 2023)
A group of LGBTQ+ veterans who were kicked out of the military because of their sexual orientation filed a federal civil rights suit on Tuesday over the Defense Department's failure to grant them honorable discharges or remove biased language specifying their sexuality from their service records following the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" in 2010.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Class action; Veterans

Indigenous Australian Art: Traditions from a Fascinating, Ancient Past - Laurentis, Camilla de (DailyArt Magazine, 2023)
Indigenous Australians did and do not have a formal written language. Without writing, the only way to maintain history is through visual production, pictures take the place of words.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Aboriginal; Art and design; Symbolism; Torres Strait Islanders; Transmission of Knowledge

Restitution of human remains: Repairing the mistakes of the past - Le Monde (Le Monde.fr, 2023)
French lawmakers are working on a bill that would facilitate the return of human remains, which would help repair the damage caused by colonization. But sorting through the thousands of remains in national collections will require far greater human resources.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Decolonization

Missing Maps: How geodata is helping humanitarian aid efforts - MSF (Relief Web, 2023)
With the Missing Maps initiative, MSF teams are leveraging spatial data to better evaluate the extent of displacement in the hard-to-reach camps around Goma, DR Congo.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Germany arrests military officer suspected of spying for Russia - Reuters (Reuters, 2023)
German prosecutors have arrested an officer of the military procurement agency on suspicion of passing secret information to Russian intelligence, the federal prosecutor's office said.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Public Data Getting Harder to Find in Mexico, Civil Rights Group Says - Reuters (US News & World Report, 2023)
Public information in Mexico is becoming more difficult to access under President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity (MCCI) said on Wednesday as it showed that scores of government databases are no longer updated.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

How indigenous conservation protects Canada's environment - Walker, Kira (BBC News, 2023)
In Canada, centring conservation with the country's indigenous peoples is allowing its original stewards to reconnect to their land and culture – and proving remarkably effective.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Algonquin First Nation; Cultural; Environment; Environment and Land Defender; Human Rights Defenders; Indigenous Guardians; Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg

Restoring Hope in Conflict-torn Northern Mozambique: Identification documents and livelihoods - World Bank (Relief Web, 2023)
Over 75,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in conflict-afflicted Cabo Delgado Province received birth certificates and new identification cards – critical for their civil rights.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Files reveal Nixon role in plot to block Allende from Chilean presidency - Bartlett, John (The Guardian, 2023)
Days before Salvador Allende’s confirmation as Chile’s president in 1970, US President Richard Nixon met with a rightwing Chilean media mogul to discuss blocking the socialist leader’s path to the presidency, newly declassified documents have revealed.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Americas; Augusto Pinochet; CIA; Chile; Richard Nixon; US foreign policy; US news; World news

Ukraine creates database of art linked to sanctions-hit Russians - Boffey, Daniel (The Guardian, 2023)
Corruption agency hopes portal will ‘make it difficult for Russian oligarchs to sell such assets’
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Alberto Giacometti; Andy Warhol; Art; Europe; Francis Bacon; Ilya and Emilia Kabakov; Leonardo da Vinci; Roman Abramovich; Russia; The art market; The super-rich; Ukraine; World news

Secret Canada: We broke the printer twice - Carduso, Tom (The Globe and Mail, 2023)
Updates on the latest additions to the Secret Canada database, plus a behind-the-scenes look at the process of filing 400 FOI requests
Keywords: 2023-08 August; FOI; Freedom of Information; Health & Medical; Social Issues

Ukraine: Database of Accidents and Victims of Explosive Ordnance - Danish Refugee Council (Relief Web, 2023)
Infographic and dashboard with verified information about the Explosive Ordnance (EO) victims & EO accidents, quantitative and qualitative information indicating the exact coordinates of the incident, information about the injuries received
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Norway to fine Meta nearly $100,000 a day over data use - EURACTIV (www.euractiv.com, 2023)
Norway's data protection agency said on Tuesday (8 August) it would start fining Facebook and Instagram owner Meta nearly $100,000 per day for defying a ban on using users' personal information to target ads.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

‘Dependent on the forest’: The fight for indigenous peoples’ rights in the Congo Basin - Gabel, Barbara (France 24, 2023)
The tropical forests of the Congo Basin are home to nearly 1 million indigenous people. After thousands of years of survival, deforestation is perhaps their biggest challenge yet.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Internet shutdowns: here’s how governments do it - Garbe, Lisa (The Conversation, 2023)
Senegal’s government has shut down internet access in response to protests about the sentencing of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko. This is a tactic governments are increasingly used during times of political contention, such as elections or social upheaval.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Internet Shutdown

Descendants ask for restitution of Paris human zoo victims: 'People died, where are they?' - Guibert, Nathalie (Le Monde, 2023)
The bodies of eight Kalina people from French Guiana who died in 1892 are held in national collections. Their remains could be returned to their homeland, as the French government has pledged to facilitate restitutions to overseas territories.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Decolonization; French Guiana; Kalina; Reparation; Restitution

Medical exploitation of Black people in America goes far beyond the cells stolen from Henrietta Lacks that produced modern day miracles - Hawkins, Deion Scott (The Conversation, 2023)
Medical exploitation is an often overlooked part of Black history and partly explains the mistrust that members of the Black community have for the medical industry.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Black American; Henrietta Lacks

Belarus: How human rights defenders are being silenced - International Federation for Human Rights (International Federation for Human Rights, 2023)
Since 2020, human rights defenders have been one of the most actively persecuted social groups in Belarus. This massive crackdown has made it impossible for activists to engage in human rights work without risking their dignity, freedom and even their lives. All human rights organisations, independent media and trade unions have been closed down, and their activities were deemed extremist and constituting criminal offences.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Russia releases history schoolbook praising Ukraine invasion - Sauer, Pjotr (The Guardian, 2023)
Textbook apparently written in just five months is part of Kremlin’s tightening of control over historical narrative in schools
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Europe; Russia; Ukraine; World news

‘Increasingly brazen’ war crimes evident in Myanmar, reports Independent Mechanism - UN News (UN News, 2023)
The Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) on Tuesday revealed compelling evidence of the country’s military and affiliate militias engaging in more frequent and audacious war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Re-imagining democracy for the 21st century, possibly without the trappings of the 18th century - Schneier, Bruce (The Conversation, 2023)
The modern representative democracy was the best form of government mid-18th-century technology could invent. The 21st century is a different place scientifically, technically and socially.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Democracy

Empire on the cheap — prison labour in the Pacific - Davidson, Jared (E-Tangata, 2023)
“Imprisoned workers were essential to creating the basic infrastructure of New Zealand’s Pacific empire. Government agents needed government buildings, so offenders who couldn’t (or wouldn’t) pay their fines built residencies, courthouses and other imperial premises.” — Jared Davidson.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Aotearoa; Prison Labour

Norway faces the difficult past (and present) of its treatment of indigenous peoples - Malinowski, Henryk (TVP World (Telewizja Polska), 2023)
A report by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission may be an opportunity to repair the relations with the Indigenous peoples.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Forest Finns; Kven; Norwegian Finns; Sámi; Truth and Reconcilation Commission - Norway

Where did 20,000 Jews hide from the Holocaust? In Shanghai - Schuerman, Matthew (NPR, 2023)
In the late 1930s, as the Nazis stepped up their persecution of German and Austrian Jews, many countries in the West severely limited the number of visas they granted to refugees. But there was one place refugees could go without even obtaining a visa: Shanghai. An exhibit in New York explores a little-known chapter of World War II.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Holocaust; Shangai

Jordan's free speech boundaries tested with satire - Knell, Yolande (BBC News, 2023)
An Arabic magazine banned by Jordan for poking fun at a royal wedding hits back with ridicule.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Freedom of the Press; Satire

The Herculean task of digitizing Mexico’s vast Indigenous history - Thelmadatter, Leigh (Mexico News Daily, 2023)
The National Institute of Indigenous Peoples faces a monumental challenge: preserving over a century of documentation before it deteriorates.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Digitization; Preservation

No stone without a name - Warne, Kennedy (E-Tangata, 2023)
“Aboriginal people, if they appear at all in the landscape, are presented as ornamental figures, framing devices, exotic touches. Only rarely is their humanity expressed . . . Mostly they are simply absent.” — Kennedy Warne on the erasure of Aboriginal people in colonial art.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Aoteoroa; Land-based knowledge; Terra nullius

National archives to digitize, transfer 6 million pages of Indian day school records, official says | CBC News - Forester, Brett (CBC News, 2023)
Canada's national archives is working to identify, digitize and transfer six million pages of federal Indian day school records to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR), the department head says.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Digitization; Library and Archives Canada; National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR); Reconciliation; Truth and Reconciliation Commission - Canada

New Project Will Recover the Names of Up to 10 Million People Enslaved in America Before Emancipation and Locate their Living Descendants - American Ancestors (Cision PR Newswire, 2023)
American Ancestors and Collaborators Announce the Launch of "10 Million Names," a Project to Honor the Family Histories of African Americans Whose Ancestors Lived Under Slavery, with a Permanent, Free, Publicly Accessible Database at 10MillionNames.org
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Ancient DNA reveals the living descendants of enslaved people through 23andMe - Callaway, Ewen (Nature, 2023)
A landmark genomic study raises the possibility that many more people could find links to distant ancestors through genetic analysis.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Databases; Genetics; History

Conference Call for Proposals - ARL IDEAL 2024—Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility in Libraries & Archives Conference - 2024-07-15 to 17, in Toronto, Canada - Keig, Alisha (Association of Research Libraries (ARL), 2023)
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is now accepting proposals for the 2024 Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility in Libraries & Archives (IDEAL) Conference, to be held July 15–17, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The conference theme is Sustainable Resistance and Restoration in Global Communities. Proposals should consider how the content of the session connects to the larger landscape of diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and justice (DEIA/J) and how the session reasonably engages adult learners.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

“Death came to our home”. War crimes and civilian suffering in Sudan - Amnesty International (Amnesty International, 2023)
Sudan: War crimes rampant as civilians killed in both deliberate and indiscriminate attacks. Read the Report
Keywords: 2023-08 August

USAID Releases Historic LGBTQ-Inclusive Development Policy - Cooper, Alex (Advocate, 2023)
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced its first-ever LGBTQI+ inclusive development policy, which will guide the agency’s inclusion of LGBTQ+ rights support in its programming.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Diversity; Inclusion; United States Agency for International Development (USAID); United States of America

Forced Passportization in Russia-Occupied Areas of Ukraine | Conflict Observatory - Humanitarian Research Lab at Yale School of Public Health (Humanitarian Research Lab, 2023)
Based on a comprehensive review of open source material, Yale HRL has identified the laws and tactics used to make it impossible for residents to survive in their homes unless they accept Russian citizenship. An executive summary and the full report are available in English.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Citizenship; Forced Russian Citizenship; Geneva Convention; The Hague Convention; Ukraine occupied territory

International group working to identify Russian forces that carried out grisly war crimes on Kherson prisoners - Macias, Amanda (CNBC, 2023)
According to new evidence gathered by the investigation, at least 36 victims described the use of electrocution during interrogations of Kherson prisoners.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Kherson; Russian Army; Russian Federation; War Crimes

Distortion of the Roma genocide and anti-Roma discrimination today - Míšková, Anna (IHRA, 2023)
To mark Roma Genocide Remembrance Day on 2 August, the IHRA shares this article by Anna Míšková, Chair of the IHRA Committee on the Genocide of the Roma.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Pakistan: Training journalists on fact-checking in a humanitarian crisis - International Committee of the Red Cross (International Committee of the Red Cross, 2023)
Factual and responsible reporting by the media can help affected communities cope better by enhancing their knowledge, connecting them with first responders, highlighting their needs and providing access to authorities.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Blood and Dirt: Prison Labour and the Making of New Zealand - Davidson, Jared (Bridget Williams Books, 2023)
Forced labour haunts the streets we walk today and the spaces we take for granted. Blood and Dirt explains, for the first time, the making of New Zealand and its Pacific empire through the prism of prison labour. Jared Davidson asks us to look beyond the walls of our nineteenth- and early twentieth-century prisons to see penal practice as playing an active, central role in the creation of modern New Zealand. Journeying from the Hohi mission station in the Bay of Islands through to Milford Sound, vast forest plantations, and on to Parliament itself, this vivid and engaging book will change the way you view New Zealand.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Aoteoroa; Prison Labour

Remotely Useful: Practical Lessons for Northern Community Archiving - Mills, Morgen; Turner, Mark David (2023 Pocket Burgundy, 2023)
Remotely Useful pioneers a first-of-its-kind guide, bridging the gap between the archival field and the day-to-day concerns of preserving cultural and community records in the North–encompassing the upper latitudes of Canada and the United States. These Arctic and Subarctic regions are on the front lines of the climate crisis, making the urgent documentation and preservation of their histories, traditions, and ecological knowledge vital before they are lost or altered forever.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Artic; Artic Circle; Canada; Northern Europe; United States of America

The Routledge Handbook of Privacy and Social Media - Trepte, Sabine; Masur, Philipp (Routledge, 2023)
This volume provides the basis for contemporary privacy and social media research and informs global as well as local initiatives to address issues related to social media privacy through research, policymaking, and education.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Social Media

Civil Society Space in Southern Africa Shrinking as Repression Rises - Bagana, Bufani (Inter Press Service, 2023)
Freedom of expression is under threat as governments in Southern Africa have enacted laws restricting civil society organizations.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Civil Rights; Freedom of Expression; Repression

‘Denying our humanity’: how Santa Monica decimated a thriving Black community - Levin, Sam (The Guardian, 2023)
African Americans helped build the iconic beach town, historian Alison Rose Jefferson details as California weighs reparations.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; California; California reparations; Race; US news

The novelist who became a war crimes investigator – and uncovered a secret diary - Moore, Hannah; Higgins, Charlotte; Glasser, Tom; Khaleeli, Homa (2023)
Victoria Amelina was an award-winning novelist. But after Russian forces invaded Ukraine, she began investigating war crimes
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Culture; Ukraine; World news

Declassified protocols indicate Golda Meir considered Palestinian statehood - Staff, Toi (The Times of Israel, 2023)
Documents show that former prime minister gave serious thought to possibility of formation of a Palestinian entity, despite public comments.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Golda Meir; Palestine; Palestinian Statehood

Liberty, equality … embroidery: the political power of textile art - Fisher, Alice (The Observer, 2023)
A series of exhibitions this summer and autumn highlight the protest woven into stitchwork
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Art; Art and design; Craft; Culture; Sewing; UK news

Zimbabwe’s ‘Patriotic Act’ erodes freedoms and may be a tool for repression - Sithole, Tinashe (The Conversation, 2023)
Opposition activists have previously been accused of treason and unpatriotic behaviour for expressing concerns about human rights abuses.
Keywords: 2023-07 July

Racism in Finland: Government minister embroiled in shocking new row - Dougall, David Mac (euronews, 2023)
Minister for Economic Affairs Wille Rydman only took up his role recently, after his predecessor quit for his own racist views and links to neo-Nazi groups.
Keywords: 2023-07 July

Tina Ngata: Waiting for the fox to give the henhouse back - Ngata, Tina (E-Tangata, 2023)
“Those in power are so accustomed to extreme privilege that anything less than maintaining that feels like oppression.” — Tina Ngata.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Aotearoa; Government; Racism; Work Place

EU sanctions Russians over Ukraine war disinformation - Staff Writer (2023)
"We are targeting those carrying out information manipulation and interference as part of a broader hybrid campaign by Russia against the EU and the member states," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said
Keywords: 2023-07 July

Ada Nield Chew: The factory girl who fought for women’s rights - Watterson, Kaleigh (BBC News, 2023)
Campaigners hope to remember forgotten tailor Ada Nield Chew by building a statue of her in Crewe.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Labor Rights

Whipped Peter: The Photograph That Exposed the Brutality of American Slavery - Africana, Talk (TalkAfricana, 2023)
Gordon, also known as "Whipped Peter," was a former enslaved man who became famous for being the subject of photographs that revealed the extensive scarring on his back from the brutal whippings he endured during slavery.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Slavery; Whipped Peter; Whipping

Survivors Speak Out on Sexual Violence in West Darfur - Bader, Laetitia (Human Rights Watch, 2023)
Nusra and Khadija share the bond of being cousins and of living in the same small town in West Darfur. Now they share a darker bond: both survivors of sexual violence in the conflict in Sudan.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Human Rights; Women's Rights

Brazil: descendants of Africans who escaped slavery gain census recognition - Malleret, Constance (The Guardian, 2023)
Groundbreaking data counts 1.3m quilombola, historically excluded population whose communities were founded by fugitive enslaved people
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Americas; Brazil; World news

Iran: International community must stand with women and girls suffering intensifying oppression - Amnesty International (Amnesty International, 2023)
The Iranian authorities are doubling down on their oppressive methods of policing and severely oppressing Iranian women and girls for defying degrading compulsory veiling laws, Amnesty International said today. In a detailed analysis published today, the organization exposes the authorities’ intensified nationwide crackdown on women and girls who choose not to wear headscarves in public.
Keywords: 2023-07 July

Human rights tribunal approves $23B revised First Nations child-welfare compensation deal | CBC News - Major, Darren (CBC News, 2023)
The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal approved a $23.4-billion revised agreement to compensate victims of the underfunded First Nations child-welfare system on Wednesday.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Children Health; First Nations; Reconciliation; Reparation; Sixty Scoop

‘We hid our stock in case we were raided’: Scotland’s pioneering LGBTQ+ bookshop - Goh, Katie (The Guardian, 2023)
Opened two years after the country legalised ‘homosexual acts’, Lavender Menace made a huge impact. Now it has opened a public queer books archive.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Books; Booksellers; Culture; Edinburgh; LGBTQ+ rights

Scholars uncover censored Hebrew texts in Vatican collection - The Jerusalem Post - Klein, Zvika (The Jerusalem Post, 2023)
A group of over 20 Christian and Jewish clergy and scholars from around the world had come together for a once-in-a-lifetime experience – a captivating journey through time, delving into the treasures of the Vatican's Hebrew manuscript collection.
Keywords: 2023-07 July

Mexican security forces were complicit in kidnapping of 43 student teachers, report reveals - Reuters (The Guardian, 2023)
Report finds army, navy, police and intelligence agencies knew, minute by minute, where the student teachers were
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Americas; Mexico; World news

Fifty Years On, the “Chicago Boys” Remain Difficult to Discuss - Winter, Brian (Americas Quarterly, 2023)
A new book tries to address the thorny, still evolving legacy of Chile’s radical free-market reformers.
Keywords: 2023-08 August; Dictatorship; Neoliberalism; United States

Some advocates want residential school abuse records re-examined, archived as debate on their future continues - Canadian Press (Radio-Canada.ca, 2023)
Under Supreme Court ruling, transcripts will be destroyed by 2027 unless survivors want them archived
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Destruction of documents; Reconciliation; Residential Schools

DR Congo: Deadly Militia Raid on Ituri’s Displaced - Human Rights Watch (Human Rights Watch, 2023)
Militia fighters killed at least 46 civilians, half of them children, and pillaged and burned a displaced people’s camp on June 12, 2023, in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern Ituri province.
Keywords: 2023-07 July

IACHR Grants Precautionary Measures in Favor of Human Rights Defender Franklin Caldera Cordero in Venezuela - Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, 2023)
Keywords: 2023-06 June

The EU and WFP provide cash assistance to internally displaced and crisis affected Iraqis missing civil documentation - Iraq | ReliefWeb - World Food Programme (World Food Programme, 2023)
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Iraq welcomed a generous €5 million contribution from the European Union (EU) to provide cash assistance to internally displaced and crisis-affected Iraqis missing one or more essential civil documents until they are integrated within the national social safety net.
Keywords: 2023-07 July

Tunisia: Human rights at risk two years after President Saied’s power grab - Amnesty International (Amnesty International, 2023)
In the second year since Tunisian President Kais Saied’s power grab, Tunisian authorities have taken further steps towards repression by jailing dozens of political opponents and state critics, violated the independence of the judiciary, dismantled institutional human rights safeguards, and incited discrimination against migrants, Amnesty International said today. “Decree by decree, blow by blow, President Saied and his government have dramatically undermined respect for human rights in Tunisia since his power grab in July 2021. In doing so, he has stripped away basic freedoms that Tunisians fought hard to earn and fostered a climate of repression and impunity. The Tunisian authorities must immediately reverse this treacherous trajectory and uphold their international human rights obligations,” said Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Kaïs Saïed

Opinion: Israel's Government Has Declared a War on Women - Gouri, Hamutal (Haaretz, 2023)
As it is poised to pass another bill that will roll back women's rights, Israel's far-right government should not underestimate the power of the rage and courage of women who refuse to see their rights usurped in the name of a conservative, religious and messianic agenda.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Benjamin Netanyahou; Democracy; Judicial Coup; Judicial Reform

Barack Obama's Defense of Librarians Amid 'Profoundly Misguided' Book Bans and Attacks - Obama, Barack (FlaglerLive, 2023)
"You’re on the front lines – fighting every day to make the widest possible range of viewpoints, opinions, and ideas available to everyone," Obama tells librarians in a letter. "Your dedication and professional expertise allow us to freely read and consider information and ideas, and decide for ourselves which ones we agree with."
Keywords: 2023-07 July

Our land died so others could live - Hele, Christopher-Ikimotu (E-Tangata, 2023)
“New Zealand’s history of colonialism with Banaba should be part of the current education curriculum. Students should understand how Banaba had to die for New Zealand’s grazing agriculture to live.”
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Aotearoa; Banaba; Pacific Island

Putting Pākehā in the shoes of a colonised people - Tihema, Baker (E-Tangata, 2023)
“I wanted to write something that puts Pākehā in the shoes of a colonised people. I want them to imagine a world in which their principles and values are routinely laughed at.”
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Aotearoa; Colonialism; Maori; Public Service; Racism

Cambodia: Election takes place under cloud of human rights crisis - Amnesty International (Amnesty International, 2023)
The human rights situation in Cambodia has severely deteriorated since the last national election in 2018, Amnesty International’s interim Deputy Regional Director for Research Montse Ferrer said today, ahead of Sunday polls expected to be dominated by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party after the sole viable opposition group was blocked from participating. “Authorities in Cambodia have spent the past five years picking apart what’s left of the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association. There is a growing crackdown on human rights in Cambodia. Many people feel that they are being forced to participate in this election despite their party of choice not being on the ballot.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Government; Human Rights

Noam Chomsky Teaches a MasterClass on Critical Thinking & Media Literacy | Open Culture - Cowen, Tyler (2023)
Noam Chomsky in a new interview on economist Tyler Cowen's podcast Conversations with Tyler. 'That’s what we’re facing. We know answers, at least possible answers to all of the problems that face us. Open Culture, openculture.com
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Critical Thinking; Independant Thinking; Media Literacy; Propaganda

Switzerland: the art of decolonizing a country without colonies - Pinoja, Letizia Gaja (JusticeInfo.net, 2023)
Why is Switzerland, a country that has never had colonies, starting to talk about colonialism and decolonization? Are the Swiss ready to hear it?
Keywords: 2023-07 July

US: Texas Officials Put Migrants in Danger - Human Rights Watch (Human Rights Watch, 2023)
Reports that migrants and asylum seekers, including children, have been pushed back by Texas officials, stranded in sweltering heat, and wounded by razor wire installed under Operation Lone Star should be investigated and all federal support to the operation ended.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Disinformation reimagined: how AI could erode democracy in the 2024 US elections - Robins-Early, Nick (The Guardian, 2023)
Advances in generative artificial intelligence could supercharge the propaganda playbook, experts warn.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Technology; US elections 2024; US news; US politics

Warsaw Ghetto's defiant Jewish doctors secretly documented the medical effects of Nazi starvation policies in a book rediscovered on a library shelf - Rosenberg, Irwin; Fitzpatrick, Merry (The Conversation, 2023)
The story behind the research can be as compelling as the results. Recording the effects of starvation, a group of Jewish doctors demonstrated their dedication to science – and their own humanity.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Medical Doctor; Nazi; Personal Diary; Starvation; War Crimes; Warshaw Ghetto

Opinion | Leave No One Behind: We Need a Rights-Based Approach to Climate Displacement - Baldi, Stefano; John, Anju Anna (Common Dreams, 2023)
Migration needs to be approached as a form of reparation by countries and businesses that have historically contributed most to the problem we face today.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Climate Displacement; Migration; Refugees

Margaret Thatcher praised Tony Blair for supporting US after 9/11, files reveal - Davies, Caroline (The Guardian, 2023)
‘I greatly admire the resolve you are showing,’ former PM said in handwritten note released to National Archives.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Foreign policy; Margaret Thatcher; National Archives; Politics; September 11 2001; Tony Blair; UK news; US news; World news

Colombia: unburying of a political smear against transitional justice - Liévano, Andrés Bermúdez (JusticeInfo.net, 2023)
The resounding confessions of soldiers before the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) disproved a vast campaign of disinformation to discredit the transitional justice process in Colombia.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Disinformation; Transitional Justice

A Bibliometric Analysis of Research at the Nexus of Climate Change, Human Mobility, and Human Rights - Patrama, Yuda (Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (RWI), 2023)
The Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (RWI) has developed this bibliometric analysis of existing literature at the nexus of work on climate change, human mobility, and human rights.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Human Rights; Migration; Refugees

Biden’s ‘Final’ Order on Kennedy Files Leaves Some Still Wanting More - Baker, Peter (The New York Times, 2023)
The president has finished a review first mandated by law in 1992, and while a vast majority of papers related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy have been released, some remain redacted.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Archives and Records; Assassinations and Attempted Assassinations; Biden, Joseph R Jr; Central Intelligence Agency; Conspiracy Theories; Espionage and Intelligence Services; Kennedy, John Fitzgerald; Oswald, Lee Harvey; United States Politics and Government; internal-open-access-from-nl

What does restorative justice look like? - Adams, Caralee (The Hechinger Report, 2023)
Maryland lawmakers prioritized the alternative disciplinary practice four years ago, but the rollout has been complicated.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Maryland; Restorative Justice

Stalin erased one generation of Ukraine’s artists. Now Putin is killing another – including my friend - Higgins, Charlotte (The Guardian, 2023)
An archive holding works by writers purged in the 1930s also hosted Victoria Amelina, lost to a Russian strike this summer.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Books; Culture; Europe; Literary festivals; Ukraine

Conference Call for Papers - Fantastic Futures Annual International Conference - AI for Libraries, Archives, and Museums - 2023-11-15 to 17 - ai4lam community (ff2023.archive.org, 2023)
The ai4lam community is organizing its annual international conference, Fantastic Futures 2023, to be held at the Internet Archive Canada, Vancouver, Canada, on November 15-17 2023. We are bringing together a diverse audience of professionals from libraries, archives, museums (LAMs), heritage organizations, as well as industry, advocacy, and policy groups, interested in the application of artificial intelligence (AI) to the work of libraries, memory organizations, scholarship, arts and culture, and information preservation and access.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Artificial Intelligence; Internet Archives

City of Spies: DC Is the World Capital of Espionage - Beaujon, Andrew; Hruby, Patrick; Mullins, Luke; McNamara, Sylvie (Washingtonian, 2023)
From spy attractions around town to intelligence recruitment at local colleges, the city is a hot bed for spy activity.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Washington DC

Canada forcibly sterilized Indigenous women after other countries stopped - Cheng, Maria (ICT News, 2023)
A Senate report found that the genocidal practice is continuing today, including a case as recently as 2019.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Colonialism; Sterilization; Women's Rights

Interpreting Contentious Memory - DeGloma, Thomas; Jacobs, Janet (Bristol University Press, 2023)
Interpreting Contentious Memory - Countermemories and Social Conflicts over the Past; This book illustrates how scholars use different interpretive lenses to study profound conflicts rooted in the past. Addressing issues of racism, genocide, war, nationalism, colonialism and more, it highlights how our interpretations of contentious memories are indispensable to our understandings of contemporary conflicts and identities.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Contentious Memory; Genocide; Social Conflicts

Egypt: Civilians Fleeing Sudan Conflict Turned Away - Human Rights Watch (Human Rights Watch, 2023)
The Egyptian government’s decision in June 2023 to require all Sudanese to obtain visas to enter Egypt has reduced access to safety for women, children, and older people fleeing the ongoing conflict in Sudan.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Egypt

Mali: Mounting Islamist Armed Group Killings, Rape - Human Rights Watch (Human Rights Watch, 2023)
Islamist armed groups have carried out widespread killings, rapes, and lootings of villages in northeast Mali since January 2023.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Sexual Violence

The 10 second rule: Why are Italians groping themselves in protest? - Mouriquand, David (euronews, 2023)
Italian social media users are expressing outrage after judges said groping had to last 10 seconds to be considered sexual assault.
Keywords: 2023-07 July

Native American leaders visit site of archeological dig to find remains of boarding school students - Ahmed, Trisha; Neibergall, Chsrtlie (Two Row Times, 2023)
Archeologists resumed digging Tuesday at the remote site of a former Native American boarding school in central Nebraska, searching for the remains of children who died there decades ago. The search for a hidden cemetery near the former Genoa Indian Industrial School in Nebraska gained renewed interest after the discovery of hundreds of children’s remains at other Native American boarding school sites across the U.S. and Canada since 2021, said Dave Williams, the state’s archeologist whose team is digging at the site.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Bording School; Industrial School; Native Americans; Nebraska

Viet Nam: Drop charges and immediately release activist sentenced to six years in prison - Amnesty International (Amnesty International, 2023)
“The unfair charges and inhumane prison conditions shows the Vietnamese authorities’ willingness to systematically silence dissent in direct violation of international human rights law."
Keywords: 2023-07 July

Kenneth Myrie and the ‘missing file’ - Edmond Campbell (Jamaica Gleaner, 2023)
IT WAS a matter that felt like life or death. Kenneth Myrie’s health was declining rapidly and he wanted a copy of his medical records dating back to 2004 to determine what type of medical procedure was carried out on him at the Kingston Public.
Keywords: 2023-07 July

The American Barbarossa Plan for Ukraine.1957 - Lurye, Oleg (The Times of Israel, 2023)
Exactly 66 years ago, in August 1957, the CIA released its secret report “Resistance Factors and Special Forces Areas. Ukraine.” This voluminous 200-page “work,” which resembled a doctoral dissertation, was prepared for the US intelligence community by staff members of Georgetown University. Despite its academic content, the CIA report is a detailed manual for the occupation of the Ukrainian territory by the Special Forces.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Barbarossa Plan; CIA; Cold War; Georgetown University; United States of America

Giuliani and election fraud promoters didn't vet claims, new court documents show | CNN Politics - Polantz, Katelyn; Sneed, Tirney; Holmes, Lybrand; CNN (CNN, 2023)
New court filings in a defamation lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani show the promoters of the election fraud narrative after Donald Trump lost the presidency failed to do basic vetting of the claims they were touting – and didn’t see such vetting as necessary.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Disinformation; Donald Trump; Electoral Fraud; Rudy Giuliani

Justifying Extraterritorial Human Rights Obligations and Climate Change as a Counterexample - Raible, Lea (Blog of the European Journal of International Law: Talk!, 2023)
Extraterritorial human rights obligations are contentious. In the UK, for example, the ECtHR’s findings that armed forces deployed abroad have human rights obligations have met with criticism. Extraterritoriality is also routinely named as one of the most difficult aspects of the next generation of potentially groundbreaking human rights litigation: climate cases.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Extraterritorial Application; Human Rights; International Law; Report

Scourge of racism haunts Black women and girls seeking healthcare | UN News - UNFPA (UN News, 2023)
Women and girls of African descent face a “systemic and historical pattern” of racial abuse in the health sector in countries across the world, leaving them at increased risk of death during childbirth, the UN’s sexual and reproductive health agency said on Wednesday. |
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Black Women; Women's Rights

122 million more people pushed into hunger since 2019 due to multiple crises, reveals UN report - World Health Organization (World Health Organization, 2023)
Over 122 million more people are facing hunger in the world since 2019 due to the pandemic and repeated weather shocks and conflicts, including the war in Ukraine, according to the latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report published today jointly by five United Nations specialized agencies.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Food Security and Nutrition

In West and Central Africa, authorities must fight corruption and uphold the human rights of those who expose it - Amnesty International (Amnesty International, 2023)
West and Central African states must stop persecuting human rights defenders who expose corruption, bribery and abuse of office, and instead take concrete and effective measures to protect and support them, Amnesty International said today, in observing African Anti-Corruption Day. Today marks the 20th anniversary of the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Human Rights Defenders; Middle Africa; Western Africa

A fire destroyed millions of veterans' records. 50 years later, families are still seeking answers - Breed, Allen G.; Herschaft, Randy (Yahoo!, 2023)
he July 12, 1973, fire in Overland, Missouri, consumed an estimated 16 to 18 million personnel files, the vast majority covering the period just before World War I through 1963. It’s believed to be the largest loss of records in one catastrophe in U.S. history.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Access; Veterans Affairs

Toward an Abolitionist Archival Practice - Eve Glazier (Barnard Center for Research on Women, 2023)
In the space of the archival encounter is a chance to practice a radically different way of relating with the past and the people who made it.
Keywords: 2023-08 August

Sudan: Darfur Town Destroyed - Human Rights Watch (Human Rights Watch, 2023)
Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied Arab militias summarily executed at least 28 ethnic Massalit and killed and injured dozens of civilians on May 28, 2023, in Sudan’s West Darfur state.
Keywords: 2023-06 June

Mothers of Srebrenica: ‘Sadly, the killing continues in the world’ | UN News - UN News (UN News, 2023)
The pointe shoes were a testament to unfulfilled hopes. They belonged to a young ballet dancer from Bosnia and Herzegovina whose life was forever changed by the brutal conflict that broke out in the heart of Europe at the end of the 20th century and were on display at UN Headquarters in New York to educate visitors about the horrors of war and genocide.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Genocide; Justice; Mothers of Srebrenica

Uni blocked questions over controversial royal archive - Williams, Martin (openDemocracy, 2023)
Press officers were told to “ignore” enquiries about the Mountbatten diaries, saying: “Let the answerphone get it”.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Mountbatten Diaries

Debunking migration myths: the real reasons people move, and why most migration happens in the global south – podcast - Anapol, Avery; Mariwany, Mend (2023)
Why your understanding of who migrates (and why) might be wrong.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Podcast

Parliament to vote on groundbreaking EU 'compensation right' against pollution - Elissaiou, Annita (www.euractiv.com, 2023)
Environment and health groups are pushing for more robust measures to protect EU citizens’ fundamental right to health and clean air, in a joint letter sent to MEPs on Thursday.
Keywords: 2023-07 July

Sri Lanka: The fate of a protest that toppled a president - Ethirajan, Anbarasan (BBC News, 2023)
One year after Sri Lanka's extraordinary people's protest, what has changed in the country?
Keywords: 2023-07 July

Catherine Murupaenga-Ikenn: A radar for injustice - Husband, Dale (E-Tangata, 2023)
“When I see environmental destruction, ecological destruction, I’m compelled to do something. When I see human rights violations, I just feel aroha for people because, what's that saying? ‘There but for the grace of God go I.’”
Keywords: 2023-07 July

Twitter Blue accounts fuel Ukraine War misinformation - Sardarizadeh, Shayan (BBC News, 2023)
False and misleading posts about the Ukraine conflict continue to go viral on major social media platforms, as Russia's invasion of the country extends beyond 500 days. Some of the most widely shared examples can be found on Twitter, posted by subscribers with a blue tick, who pay for their content to be promoted to other users.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Propaganda; Technology; Twitter

Tuskegee Syphilis Study: The US Government's Infamous 40-Year Experiment on African Americans - Talk Africana (TalkAfricana, 2023)
For 40 years, from 1932 to 1972, the United States government conducted a controversial and unethical experiment known as the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. This study targeted a vulnerable population - African American men - and exploited their trust, resulting in tragic consequences.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; African American; Medical Experimentation; Syphilis; Tuskegee Syphilis Study

Missing Mexican Journalist Found Dead With Messages Attached to His Chest - The Messenger - Chiaramonte, Perry (The Messenger News, 2023)
Data from Reporters Without Borders shows that at least 80 journalists have been murdered in Mexico in the last decade.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Journalism; Murder

Guatemala: Respect Election Results - Human Rights Watch (Human Rights Watch, 2023)
Guatemalan authorities should respect the results of elections held on June 25, 2023, Human Rights Watch and the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) said today. Concerned governments, including from Latin America, should urge the government and other authorities to ensure democratic values and respect the will of Guatemalans expressed at the polls.
Keywords: 2023-07 July

Conference Call for Papers - Center Is Co-Convening 2024 Conference on Archives in/of Transit - 2024-06-28 and 29. - USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research (USC Shoah Foundation, 2023)
The USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research is one of the conveners for the conference "Archives in/of Transit: Historical Perspectives from the 1930s to the Present", which will take place at the University of Southern California from June 28 to June 29, 2024.
Keywords: 2023-07 July

Death of a radio host: the web of corruption, lies and revenge behind the killing of Martinez Zogo - ZAM magazine (The Guardian, 2023)
A dossier of bank slips detailing suspect payments of millions of dollars handed to the journalist brought the downfall of a political upstart in Cameroon. But it also led to Zogo’s murder. His colleagues went to investigate why.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Africa; Cameroon; Corruption; Global development; Governance; Journalist safety; Media; World news

Victoria Amelina: Ukraine and the meaning of home - Amelina, Victoria (The Guardian, 2023)
Before she was killed by a Russian missile strike, the acclaimed novelist and war crimes researcher wrote about growing up in Moscow’s shadow, and how she came to understand what being Ukrainian really meant
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Russia; Social Media; Vladimir Putin

Sudan: Sexual violence against women spikes - Hairsine, Kate (dw.com, 2023)
Dozens of women and girls have been raped and sexually assaulted by fighters in Sudan as the conflict approaches its third month.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; War Crimes

Tunisia: Crisis as Black Africans Expelled to Libya Border - Human Rights Watch (Human Rights Watch, 2023)
Tunisian security forces have collectively expelled several hundred Black African migrants and asylum seekers, including children and pregnant women, to a remote, militarized buffer zone at the Tunisia-Libya border. The group includes people with both regular and irregular legal status in Tunisia, expelled without due process. Many reported violence by authorities during arrest or expulsion.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Libya

IACHR Welcomes Full Compliance with the Friendly Settlement Agreement in Case 12,756—El Aracatazzo Bar Massacre, Colombia - Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, 2023)
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has decided to declare full compliance with Friendly Settlement Report 10/15, concerning Case 12,756—El Aracatazzo Bar Massacre, Colombia—and will stop monitoring it. This case concerns the international responsibility of the Colombian State for the deaths of 18 people on August 12, 1995, at the bar El Aracatazzo, in the municipality of Chigorodó, in Antioquia. The killings were allegedly perpetrated by members of paramilitary groups, in connivance with law enforcement officers at a checkpoint operated by the National Army's Infantry Battalion 46. These law enforcement officers allegedly failed to take protection measures to support civilians, despite having heard shots. They also allegedly failed to conduct a diligent criminal investigation and a disciplinary review of the people involved. The case went unpunished for more than 10 years.
Keywords: 2023-07 July

Ile-a-la Crosse school settlement stalled by Saskatchewan says Ottawa - Needham, Fraser (APTN News, 2023)
A settlement for students who went the to Ile-a-la Crosse residential school is stalled because Saskatchewan refuses to negotiate says Ottawa.
Keywords: 2023-06 June

Inside Barbados' Historic Push for Slavery Reparations - Ross, Janell (Time, 2023)
How a tiny island became a global leader in the effort to demand meaningful recompense.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Reconciliation; Reparation; Slavery

Fighting to free the women and children enslaved by IS - Whright, Rachel (BBC News, 2023)
Yazidi groups are still looking for thousands of women and children who were enslaved.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; IS; Irak; Sexual Violence; Syrian Arab Republic; Women Rights

S’inspirer des savoirs autochtones pour préserver la planète - Ziker, John (The Conversation, 2023)
Les savoirs écologiques traditionnels (SET) n’ont plus à prouver leur efficacité concernant par exemple la gestion des ressources naturelles ou la diplomatie climatique.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Climate Change; Environment

Sudan: Neighbouring countries must provide safe passage to those fleeing conflict - Amnesty International (Amnesty International, 2023)
Between 9 May and 16 June, Amnesty International interviewed 29 civilians faced with the difficult choice of whether to return to the conflict they fled, or remain stranded at the border, where they may wait for an indefinite period without basic supplies to maintain their health, privacy, and dignity.
Keywords: 2023-07 July

Burundi Government Walks Out on UN Review - De Montjoye, Clementine (Human Rights Watch, 2023)
This week, Burundian authorities once again displayed their contempt for human rights by walking out of the country’s review before the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva.
Keywords: 2023-07 July; Geneva