Singapore Democrats

Côte d'Ivoire: Deaths in demonstration
By: Al Jazeera, February 19, 2010
Police in Côte d'Ivoire have fired on hundreds of demonstrators at an anti-government rally, killing three people and wounding a dozen others in the latest protest since the president dissolved the government last week.The dissolution of the government has thrown into doubt the political reconciliation process in Côte d'Ivoire, which was about to hold elections.
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South Africa: President leaves 15,000 letters blowing in the wind
By: Caitlin Ross, All Africa, February 18, 2010
Tens of thousands of letters addressed to President Jacob Zuma asking him to prioritise the fight against crime, were dumped on the steps of parliament after the presidency refused to accept them on Tuesday during his response to criticism of his state of the nation adress.
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Kenya: Thousands protest as political crisis deepens
By: The Peninsula, February 18, 2010
Kenyans yesterday marched to vent their anger at a coalition government slowly falling apart over graft allegations and its inability to further key reforms pledged two years ago. Thousands of people displaced by the violence that broke out following the disputed December 2007 elections began marching from the Rift Valley to Nairobi on Tuesday but their 200km procession was aborted.
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Zimbabwe: WOZA activists still in custody in Mutare
By: Violet Gonda, SW Radio Africa, February 18, 2010
Police in Mutare are still holding two women from the pressure group Women of Zimbabwe Arise, for allegedly participating in a WOZA demonstration that was held in the eastern border town on Tuesday. The group said their activist remain in custody at Mutare Central Police Station even though the police have admitted that they have no evidence to charge the two women with.
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Bostwana: Bushmen denied right to vote
By: Survival International, February 17, 2010
Over 400 Bushmen were denied the right to vote in Botswana's 2009 general election, with five Bushman communities inside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve omitted from the electoral register. The revelations were confirmed by the District Commissioner and are the latest in a long line of assaults against the Bushmen's rights.
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Zimbabwe: National healing elusive, as torture bases re-emerge
By: Radio VOP, February 16, 2010
The signing of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) by Zanu (PF) and two formations of the MDC last February not only brought hope but relief to many Zimbabweans who had been living in fear of their lives due to political violence.
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US: Dalai Lama 'very happy' with Obama talks
By: AP, February 18, 2010
President Barack Obama welcomed the Dalai Lama for closely-watched White House talks Thursday, risking fallout in China over the get-together and Obama's statement supporting preservation of Tibet's identity and human rights. "The president commended the Dalai Lama's 'Middle Way' approach, his commitment to nonviolence and his pursuit of dialogue with the Chinese government."
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Mexico: Esther Chavez Cano added up the devastation of gender violence
By: Theresa Braine, Issues Magazine, February 16, 2010
In mid-December 2009, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights condemned Mexico's handling of the cases of three women who had been murdered in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez. The Inter-American court ruled that the families of the three women should receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages from the Mexican government.
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Mexican reporters, activists demand state protection
By: Emilio Godoy, IPS, February 16, 2010
Journalists and human rights activists in Mexico are frantically seeking a mechanism to protect them from attacks related to their work, but the state has been slow to respond. The Colombian model might provide a solution. Already this year, three reporters have been murdered without any of the perpetrators being brought to justice, presaging another difficult year for Mexican media workers.
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Honduras: Four campesinos wounded in land dispute
By: World War 4 Report, February 16, 2010
Four campesinos were wounded, two with bullets, on Jan. 27 when police and private security guards attacked members of the Unified Campesino Movement of the Aguán (MUCA) at the Río Aguán in Trujillo municipality. The MUCA members were trying to reoccupy land which they had been forced to leave in January.
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Honduras: New president keeps military chief behind coup that ousted Zelaya
By: Courant, February 16, 2010
The new president of Honduras is keeping in place military leaders who ordered his elected predecessor flown into exile in a June coup. President Porfirio Lobo, who took office last month, met with military chief Gen. Romeo Vasquez and other commanders for three hours and informed them of his decision, an armed forces spokesman said Tuesday.
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Cuban hunger striker's condition reportedly worse
By: Juan O. Tamayo, Miami Herald, February 10, 2010
A Cuban political prisoner who has been on a hunger strike since December is ``worsening slowly'' despite a hospital's decision to feed him through intravenous tubes. Orlando Zapata is ``skin and bones, his stomach is just a hole'' and he has bedsores on his legs, said his mother.
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Venezuela is a democracy, Lula says
By: El Universal, February 19, 2010
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defended on Friday his government's decision to support the Venezuelan Administration headed by President Hugo Chávez and his moderate tone towards suspicions about the true goals of the Iranian nuclear program. Lula dismissed accusations against Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who has been described as the head of an authoritarian regime.
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Venezuela: Detained pro-government tycoons an embarrassment to Chavez
By: Jonathan Manthorpe, Vancouver Sun, February 19, 2010
The regime of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is looking increasingly besieged as he is deserted by old revolutionary allies while he in turn strikes out at supporters who have profited from his rule. Meanwhile, the economy of Venezuela -South America's largest oil producer with some of the world's largest known reserves -is crumbling.
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Colombia: Canada should put democracy before free trade
By: Common Dreams, February 18, 2010
An international mission returned from Colombia this week, after spending 10 days investigating pre electoral conditions in the lead up to the congressional elections on March 14. The findings of the mission underscore the need to prevent the ratification of the proposed Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement until a full and independent human rights impact assessment can be carried out.
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Venezuela: Shake-up at TV station worries Chavez foes
By: Jack Daniel, Yahoo! News, February 17, 2010
Critics of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez worry that the main remaining TV station opposed to the socialist leader will water down criticism of the government now that its news director has quit. Alberto Ravell, a founder and director of the station credited with turning Globovision into a major player in the opposition, left the station last week.
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Turkmenistan to allow creation of second political party
By: Mail Online, February 19, 2010
Turkmenistan is set to allow the creation of a second political party this year, it was reported today. The move will break up the one-party system that has been in place since the Central Asian nation gained independence.
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Azerbaijani blogger's lawyer questions judges' objectivity
By: RFE, February 18, 2010
The attorney for arrested Azerbaijani blogger Adnan Hajizade has requested that new judges be named to preside over his client's appeal in a Baku court. Lawyer Isakhan Ashurov said in court on February 17 that he is "suspicious about the fairness of the judges," because the same judges "rejected our appeal about violence against the bloggers at the police station on the day of their arrest."
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Bangladesh launches 'violent crackdown' on Rohingyas
By: AFP, February 18, 2010
Bangladesh has unleashed a crackdown of unprecedented violence against Muslim refugees from neighbouring Burma, a report by humanitarian group Medecins Sans Frontieres said. Described by the United Nations as one of the most persecuted minorities on earth, thousands of Rohingyas from Burma's northern Rakhaine state stream across the border into Bangladesh every year.
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China complains to US about Obama-Dalai Lama meeting
By: Tania Branigan, Guardian, February 19, 2010
Beijing today summoned the US ambassador to complain about Barack Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama, state media reported. The foreign ministry also demanded that Washington act to improve ties, warning in a statement that the US president's meeting had "grossly violated norms governing international relations."
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North Korea defector fights her way to the top
By: Nam You-Sun, Yahoo! News, February 18, 2010
Teenager Choi Hyun-Mi, struggling to make a new life in South Korea after fleeing North Korea with her parents, literally fought her way to the top. Choi, who switched from amateur to professional boxing to support her family, is now the World Boxing Association (WBA) women's featherweight champion -- still deeply in love with the sport she took up in Pyongyang at age 13.
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China: Warning as unrest grows
By: RFA, February 17, 2010
A top law enforcement official has called on Chinese local authorities to "keep trouble in the townships," referring to the tens of thousands of clashes that happen annually between protesters and the authorities around the country. This was a clear endorsement of recent crackdowns on petitioners seeking redress for grievances against the government at a higher level of authority.
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Human rights advocates need cross-border approaches
By: Michael Allen, Democracy Digest, February 18, 2010
The world's democracy and human rights advocates need to develop genuinely global responses and new approaches to deal with the current authoritarian offensive against fundamental freedoms of association and expression, former Czech President Vaclav Havel told a Washington meeting last night. There is a compelling moral imperative for solidarity with dissidents within totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, he said.
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Media Watchdog appeals to UN to protect journalists
By: Nikola Krastev, RFE, February 17, 2010
The Committee To Protect Journalists (CPJ) says 2009 was the deadliest year for journalists across the globe and a record year for the number of reporters arrested or detained. More than 70 journalists lost their lives in 2009 while on the job.
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China: Amateur short film satirizes internet censorship
By: Robert Woo, Global Voices, February 17, 2010
Famous amateur film-maker, Hu Ge, has recently made a new satirical piece on the Internet censorship in China. The 7-minute piece, 'Animal World: the Home-living Animal' is styled as an animal-planet type of documentary and has attracted hundreds of thousands of views in a matter of a few days.
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Call for nominations: Rights & Democracy's John Humphrey Award 2010
By: Craig Zelizer, Peace and Collaborative Development Network, February 16, 2010
Rights & Democracy (International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development) presents the John Humphrey Award each year to an organization or individual from any region of the world for outstanding achievement in the promotion of human rights and democratic development.
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Take action now
By: Women for Women International, February 2010
To honor the resilience of millions of women survivors of war around the world, Women for Women International is hosting a global campaign called Join me on the Bridge on International Women's Day: March 8, 2010. On that day, we will bring women from Rwanda and Congo together in peace on a bridge between their countries to demand an end to war.
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Morocco taps devolution to break Sahara deadlock
By: Lamine Ghamni, Kuwait Times, January 28, 2010
Plans by Morocco to devolve some power to its regions appear unlikely to convince independence campaigners in Western Sahara to accept Moroccan sovereignty over the desert territory. A decades-old dispute over Western Sahara's future is fuelling tension between Morocco and neighbour Algeria that has scuppered attempts to create an EU-style political and economic union.
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Violence and democracy in Bolivia
By: Carolina Gottardo and Maria Eugenia Rojas, Open Democracy, January 26, 2010
One of the gravest challenges that women are now facing as a result of their increased participation is political gender based violence against candidates and elected women politicians. Women are often subjected to threats, attacks, intimidation physical and psychological violence and harassment by men just because they dare to speak up publicly in a patriarchal society.
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