Blog Post Feb 24, 2023 February 24, One Year Later: Hope on the Humanitarian Front On Feb. 24, the Russian army, on the orders of Vladimir Putin, began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a sovereign nation of just over 43 million people. The attack —preceded by the annexation of Crimea, an armed conflict in the Donbas region, and never-ending propaganda on Russian TV —has upended world order and undermined the international security system that has been forming since the end of World War II.
Blog Post Feb 20, 2023 This World Day of Social Justice, Stand with Activists Standing Up to Authoritarianism Every year, on Feb. 20, the international community commemorates the World Day of Social Justice. First celebrated in 2007, the United Nations established this day with a vision of a “society for all,” in which “all” enjoy equal economic, political, and social rights and opportunities.
Blog Post Feb 15, 2023 Crises Compounded in a Forgotten Dictatorship The combination of a 12-year conflict caused by a dictator who glorifies and celebrates his atrocities, a global pandemic, and now a natural disaster would surely have the world concerned and anxious to help. But, this has not been the case.
Blog Post Feb 1, 2023 Two Years After the Coup, Burma’s Struggle for Democracy Continues Two years ago today, Burma’s junta, led by military chief Min Aung Hlaing (MAH), seized power in a coup and overthrew the newly elected government.
Blog Post Jan 25, 2023 Champion of Solidarity: African Democracy Defenders Standing With Ukraine Last month, thousands took to the streets of China in response to the Chinese Communist Party’s severe pandemic lockdowns. The demonstrations were not only a rallying cry for the end of the country’s rigid COVID restrictions; they were also a showcase of the people’s determination for freedom and human rights.
Blog Post Jan 23, 2023 Bolivia’s Jailing Opposition Leaders on Absurd ‘Terrorism’ Charges A Dec. 28 police operation involving over 40 heavily armed officers — most of them in plain clothes and wearing masks — violently arrested Luis Fernando Camacho, one of Bolivia’s most important opposition leaders and governor of the region with the country’s largest city, and swiftly moved him to La Paz in a military helicopter.
Blog Post Jan 17, 2023 HRF’s Recommended Reads for 2023 Today, in the words of Human Rights Foundation (HRF) Board Chairman Garry Kasparov, we are witnessing “the frontline of the total war between freedom and tyranny.”
Blog Post Jan 11, 2023 Meet HRF Freedom Fellow Volya Vysotskaia Meet HRF Freedom Fellow Volya Vysotskaia, a Belarusian human rights activist who exposes repression and torture by state officials.
Blog Post Jan 11, 2023 Trials in Absentia: Lukashenko’s Latest Act of Repression The anti-government protests in Belarus over the last two years may have died down, but the country remains marred by violent repression and the clamping down on dissidents.
Blog Post Jan 9, 2023 From Egypt, Sisi’s Long Arm of Repression Targets Americans Too While Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi received star treatment during President Joe Biden’s US-Africa Leaders Summit, an American citizen and vocal critic of the Egyptian regime, Sherif Osman, languished in an Emirati prison for 46 days on spurious charges.
Blog Post Dec 21, 2022 Champion of Democracy: Combatting Authoritarianism in Latin America The Cuban and Nicaraguan regimes have engaged in some of the most ruthless repression campaigns in recent history.
Blog Post Dec 21, 2022 Champion of Freedom: The Fearless Women of Iran & Afghanistan The condition of women and girls is a significant indicator of the democratic status of a country and 2022 proved that, in many places around the globe, the diagnosis isn’t good: The systematic assault on women’s rights under authoritarian regimes was illuminated time and again, especially in the Middle East and South Asia.
Blog Post Dec 21, 2022 Champion of the Forgotten: The Overlooked Dictatorships of Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos Last month, thousands took to the streets of China in response to the Chinese Communist Party’s severe pandemic lockdowns.
Blog Post Dec 21, 2022 Champion of Courage: How Ukraine is Fighting For its Future Last month, thousands took to the streets of China in response to the Chinese Communist Party’s severe pandemic lockdowns.
Blog Post Dec 2, 2022 Press Freedom: A Right, Yet Democratic Luxury To write freely and openly is a luxury. Around the world, in authoritarian regimes, the luxury of writing — to report on what you see, hear, and think — is virtually nonexistent. The thirst for truth and knowledge, and to write on it, is there. But dictatorships won’t allow such a luxury.
Blog Post Nov 16, 2022 Enforced Disappearances: The Silenced Truths of Burma The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) explores the topic of enforced disappearances in a series of blog posts to draw much-needed attention to this forgotten crime.
Blog Post Nov 7, 2022 The Cost of Defending the Environment in Latin America On July 5, 2022, Venezuelan indigenous leader and environmentalist Virgilio Trujillo Arana was murdered in broad daylight.
Blog Post Sep 15, 2022 El Creciente Autoritarismo de Bukele en El Salvador En 2019, Nayib Bukele sacudió la escena política de El Salvador, convirtiéndose en el primer presidente democráticamente elegido en décadas en alcanzar la presidencia sin ser miembro de ninguno de los dos principales partidos políticos del país: el Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN) en la izquierda, o la Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (ARENA) en la derecha.
Blog Post Sep 15, 2022 The Time for Democracy is Now On this International Day of Democracy, the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) calls on the international community to support peaceful dissidents and human rights defenders working to promote and protect human rights in countries under authoritarian rule.
Blog Post Aug 30, 2022 No Girl Left Behind: A Year of HRF’s Commitment to the People of Afghanistan Around this time last year, amid the waning summer and an otherwise hopeful moment of revival in the post-pandemic year, the world witnessed a cataclysmic event: the United States’ formal military withdrawal from Afghanistan.
