Announcement Feb 2, 2024 Beyond Utopia now available on streaming platforms The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) is pleased to announce that “Beyond Utopia,” a BAFTA-nominated and du-Pont-Columbia Award-winning film that follows the harrowing journeys of several individuals as they attempt to escape North Korea, is now available to stream on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, and YouTube.
Blog Post Feb 1, 2024 Burma’s Third Coup Anniversary Three years ago today, the Burmese military junta, led by Min Aung Hlaing, seized power from the democratically elected government in a coup.
Reports Feb 1, 2024 Infiltrating America: How the United Arab Emirates Launched an Unprecedented Political Interference Campaign in the United States For years, one foreign dictatorship has overseen an unprecedented interference effort aimed at the heart of the U.S. political process, unleashing squadrons of lobbyists while launching illicit campaigns that reached directly into the highest ranks of the American government.
Op-Ed Jan 31, 2024 Alexander Lukashenko’s reign of terror continues in Belarus On Tuesday, the Belarusian KGB descended on the apartments and offices of at least 159 friends and family of political prisoners in a “massive security raid.” At least 100 people were interrogated and at least 26 were arrested on politically motivated charges.
Blog Post Jan 29, 2024 Bloody January Remembered In January 2022, citizens in the Central Asian country of Kazakhstan experienced the most violent event in their recent history.
Blog Post Jan 25, 2024 The Aliyev Regime’s Role in the Ethnic Cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians On Sept. 19, Stepanakert, the capital of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, came under a barrage of bombs and artillery fire. Azerbaijan announced the beginning of an “anti-terrorist campaign,” signifying Baku’s final attempt to push ethnic Armenians out of the enclave and reclaim control over its territory.
Blog Post Jan 19, 2024 Shadows of Support: Japan’s Ties with Burma’s Military Junta In February 2021, the Burmese military junta staged a coup against the democratically elected government of the National League for Democracy Party (NLD) and invalidated the results of the November 2020 general election.
Op-Ed Jan 16, 2024 Taiwan’s ruling party needs to double down on democracy Taiwan’s incumbent ruling party, the Democratic People’s Party (DPP), may have been able to clinch a victory in a tight presidential race on Saturday, but it’s much too early to bask in the win.
Blog Post Jan 15, 2024 Beyond Borders: China’s Transnational Repression of Uyghurs In March, Turkish police raided a bookstore in Istanbul, accusing it of selling copies of Uyghur books banned by the Chinese regime without proper copyright.
Blog Post Jan 12, 2024 Fueling Ambition: Aramco’s pivotal role in Saudi Arabia’s sports expansion In November 2023, news broke that Aramco—Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil and energy giant—was set to complete a “significant sponsorship” deal with FIFA that would make it the football governing body’s biggest sponsor over the coming decade.
Announcement Jan 3, 2024 “Beyond Utopia” shortlisted for Best Documentary Feature at 2024 Oscars The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) is pleased to announce that “Beyond Utopia,” a film following the desperate and harrowing journeys of several individuals as they attempt to escape North Korea, has landed on the Oscars shortlist for Best Documentary Feature, Variety reported.
Reports Jan 1, 2024 HRF Report: Sex Trafficking in Cuba For years, the Cuban regime has failed to comply with its international law obligations aimed at protecting victims of human trafficking.
Blog Post Nov 17, 2023 Worldconned: How China Co-Opted Sci-Fi’s Crown Jewel Amidst the Uyghur Genocide Last month, Chengdu, China hosted the 81st World Science Fiction Convention. Known as Worldcon, this annual convention is the site of the prestigious Hugo Awards—sci-fi’s equivalent to the Oscars.
Press Release Nov 14, 2023 HRF Supports South Korea Decision to Uphold Freedom of Speech in Face of North Korean Threats The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) strongly condemns the North Korean regime’s recent threats following a September South Korean Constitutional Court decision striking down a law that banned private activists from sending informational leaflets into the dictatorship of North Korea
Op-Ed Oct 27, 2023 Russia’s Slaughter of Indigenous People in Alaska Tells Us Something Important About Ukraine In the racial-reckoning summer of 2020, local leaders in a small American town gathered for a contentious vote on whether to take down a statue that honored a man who was, as one assessment read, “steeped in racial division, violence and injustice.”
Blog Post Oct 24, 2023 The Silent Chains of Saudi Arabia: My Fight for My Daughter and Our Freedom In 2011, while working in Tunisia, my life completely changed. I witnessed the start of the Arab Spring and fall of Tunisia’s dictator, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, due to a popular uprising against injustice.
Press Release Oct 20, 2023 HRF Sponsors Art Exhibition “Singing About North Korea: Heaven on Earth” at South Korea’s National Assembly The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) announces the upcoming art exhibition, “Singing About North Korea: Heaven on Earth,” dedicated to raising awareness of North Korean human rights issues.
Press Release Oct 13, 2023 The Governments of South Korea and the US Must Demand Xi Jinping to Stop Forcibly Repatriating North Korean Defectors On the evening of Oct. 9, Chinese officials swiftly repatriated North Korean defectors back to North Korea through Hunchun, Tumen, Changbai, Nanping, and Dandong.
Press Release Oct 9, 2023 HRF to UN: Do Not Elect Dictatorships to Human Rights Council On Oct. 10, 193 member states of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) face the crucial task of filling 15 of the 47 seats of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
Op-Ed Oct 4, 2023 Russia’s Crimean Red Line Has Been Erased In December 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin stood in the middle of the Kremlin’s St. George’s Hall, delivering his annual address to the country’s Federal Assembly.
