Publication Jul 15, 2023 Miami-based clothing company has a mission that goes beyond fashion During his 2018 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Dr. Denis Mukwege described some of his first days at Panzi Hospital in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic Congo.
Blog Post Jul 13, 2023 All Fabricated: Shein’s Influencer Trip to a Guangzhou Factory In June, the global fast-fashion retailer Shein treated a group of social media influencers to an all-expenses paid trip to Guangzhou, a city in southeast China. Glamorous at the onset, Shein took these “brand ambassadors” — individuals paid to endorse the company’s products — on tours of the company’s “aboveboard” factories. Soon after, the individuals shared raving reviews of the working conditions, suggesting no signs of maltreatment or forced labor.
Press Release Jul 10, 2023 UN Calls For Release Of Saudi Women’s Rights Activists Last Friday, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) released a decision on the cases of Salma al-Shehab and Nourah al-Qahtani. It finds their detention to be arbitrary and calls for their immediate release.
Blog Post Jul 7, 2023 What’s Happening in Hong Kong? Q&A with HK Activist Sunny Cheung As further proof that the Chinese Communist Party isn’t letting up on infringing on Hong Kong’s autonomy and the freedom of its citizens, police on Monday issued arrest warrants for eight overseas Hong Kong activists for offenses such as foreign collusion and incitement to secession under the national security law.
Publication Jun 13, 2023 Russians speak out against Putin’s invasion Russian chess master Garry Kasparov and Evgenia Kara-Murza, wife of jailed opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, talk to CNN Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour about Vladimir Putin’s tight grip on Russian society.
Publication Jun 8, 2023 Rattle and Hum – HRF x The Signal After the 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in custody, following her arrest by Iran’s Guidance Patrol—the morality police—for “improperly” wearing her hijab head covering, fierce protests spread across the country.
News May 30, 2023 Inside Men – HRF x The Signal When Putin first came to power, part of his message and appeal was that he’d bring an end to the corruption of the oligarchs and a victory for the rule of law in Russia. What happened?
Op-Ed May 28, 2023 HRF Op-Ed: Make Russia Pay For months, the West has fretted over the prospect of paying for Ukraine’s reconstruction. Russia’s war has inflicted an estimated $400 billion in rebuilding costs, a tally that rises every day. Western leaders, already alarmed by inflation and the threat of recession, have understandably blanched over the bill.
News May 12, 2023 Taken – HRF x The Signal No American had been arrested on charges of espionage in Russia since the Cold War—until The Wall Street Journal’s reporter Evan Gershkovich was just less than two months ago.
Announcement May 1, 2023 Meet Oslo Freedom Forum Speaker Malcolm Bidali Meet Malcolm Bidali (@NoahArticulates), a prominent Kenyan human rights defender, migrant workers’ rights activist, and 2023 Oslo Freedom Forum speaker.
Op-Ed Apr 28, 2023 Russia has stifled another Putin opponent. Here’s how the West might help him Some 70 US lawmakers wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week, urging the Biden administration to press Russia for the release of imprisoned dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza.
Blog Post Apr 28, 2023 How Alexander Lukashenko Targets the Women of Belarus They stood in rows, all dressed in red and white — the colors of the independent Belarusian flag, used by the opposition and banned by Alexander Lukashenko’s regime. The sight of hundreds of women peacefully marching in protest would become an enduring symbol in Belarus in 2020.
Announcement Apr 24, 2023 Meet Oslo Freedom Forum Speaker Pastor Kim Meet Pastor Seungeun Kim (@Pastorkim_Caleb), a prominent human rights advocate, the head of the Caleb Mission, a Christian church based in South Korea, and a 2023 Oslo Freedom Forum speaker.
Blog Post Apr 13, 2023 What’s Happening In China’s Concentration Camps? Q&A with Uyghur Camp Survivors As Muslims globally celebrate the holy month of Ramadan with their families, the Uyghur people — many of whom practice Islam — are suffering genocide at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (“Uyghur Region”).
Announcement Apr 11, 2023 Meet HRF Freedom Fellow Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal Meet Buddhist monk and Thai human rights activist Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal (@NetiwitC).
Blog Post Apr 10, 2023 Red-Tagging in the Philippines: A License to Kill February 2023 marked three years in prison for Frenchie Mae Cumpio, a 24-year-old Philippine community journalist and executive director of the independent news website, Eastern Vista. In 2020, the Philippine government accused her of illegally possessing firearms and explosives; Cumpio was reportedly denied “the right to present evidence and prove the utter falsehoods against her.”
Blog Post Apr 7, 2023 Like, Tweet, & Torment: Authoritarian Troll Farms “They were attacking him basically every single day, threatening him, trying to silence him. So Jamal felt the whole country was against him – and that was hurting. He said sometimes ‘I feel like I don’t want to talk about anything, I don’t want to expose my opinion.’ “
Blog Post Mar 31, 2023 Women at the Forefront of Democracy: Mobilizing Women and Youth in Madagascar Democracy is facing a myriad of challenges across the African continent, from Nigeria’s flawed presidential election to military coups in the Sahel, from deadly crackdowns on pro-democracy movements in countries like Eswatini, Chad, and Rwanda to Russia’s efforts in the region to fan public cynicism about liberal values.
Blog Post Mar 28, 2023 Women at the Forefront of Democracy: Combatting Oppressive Laws in Saudi Arabia As authoritarianism persists throughout the Middle East and North Africa, it’s crucial to recognize the women’s rights activists who have stood up against these dictators despite severe repercussions. In Saudi Arabia, one of the region’s most repressive regimes, advocating for human rights comes with a high risk.
Blog Post Mar 27, 2023 Putin’s Invasion of Ukraine – What’s a Court in the Hague Got to Do With It? On March 17, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova for unlawfully deporting and transferring Ukrainian children to Russia.
