Blog Post Sep 9, 2024 El Salvador: The False Tradeoffs Between Security and Democracy El Salvador’s gang problem has long plagued its citizens, with violent territorial control by gangs leading to a reign of terror characterized by rampant extortion, high homicide rates, and destructive turf wars.
Blog Post Sep 6, 2024 A History of Sports & Dictators, Part 3: Post-WWII Soft Power Long before the inception of the Olympic Games in Ancient Greece, sports have been used to distract the masses, test foreign policies, thaw diplomatic tensions, and broadcast political and social messaging.
Blog Post Sep 4, 2024 The Survival of Kurdish Identity in Turkey The Kurds make up the world’s largest stateless population, with more than 30 million living in Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey; they make up a fifth of Turkey’s population. Like other indigenous populations in the post-World War I era in the Middle East, European diplomats decided the Kurds’ fate.
Blog Post Aug 19, 2024 The Role of Freedom Tech in Venezuela Venezuela grapples with fraudulent presidential elections, economic and financial collapse, widespread repression, and severe human rights abuses under dictator Nicolás Maduro, its brave activists continue searching for uncensorable solutions to combat systemic repression.
Blog Post Aug 14, 2024 Election Watch: Bangladesh Took One More Step Toward Authoritarianism When the people of Bangladesh went to the polls on Jan. 7, they did so knowing the outcome was already predetermined: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the ruling Awami League won a fourth consecutive term, pushing the country further toward authoritarianism.
Blog Post Aug 14, 2024 How the Dictators of Azerbaijan and Turkey Undermine Armenian Democracy In November 2024, Azerbaijan will host the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29), one of the largest conferences in the world dedicated to fighting climate change.
Blog Post Aug 9, 2024 A History of Sports & Dictators, Part 2: The Rise of Fascism Long before the inception of the Olympic Games in Ancient Greece, sports have been used to distract the masses, test foreign policies, thaw diplomatic tensions, and broadcast political and social messaging.
Blog Post Aug 5, 2024 Freedom In Focus | HRF Summer Newsletter In this edition of Freedom in Focus, we are excited to share some of our major achievements this summer and progress in the fight for freedom and democracy worldwide.
Blog Post Aug 5, 2024 The Silencing of Dissident Artists Art, in all its forms, is etched into the fabric of society. It is a testament to humanity’s unique ability to create; with a painter’s stroke, word, musical note, or dance move, an artist can evoke compassion in their viewers.
Blog Post Jul 31, 2024 Election Watch: Modi Secures Third Term Amid Electoral Irregularities India has recently concluded the world’s largest electoral exercise, with some 640 million voters casting their ballots over seven weeks beginning on April 19.
Blog Post Jul 22, 2024 Undermined: China’s Growing Presence in Tibetan Mining For decades, China has exploited ethnic minorities in the name of economic growth. To become a global leader in mass-producing and exporting inexpensive goods, it relies on a steady supply of cheap labor. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has found this labor supply in its occupied territories, such as the Uyghur Region.1
Blog Post Jul 21, 2023 The Road To Nowhere: Cambodia’s Bogus Election Cambodians are counting down to Sunday’s general election. Prime Minister Hun Sen, one of the world’s longest-serving dictators — 38 years and counting — is aiming to “win” yet another rigged election.
Blog Post Jun 26, 2024 Eight Ways Zimbabwe’s regime hijacked the 2023 vote Zimbabweans have never known free and fair elections. Voter intimidation and suppression have tainted every election since February 1980, during which Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party claimed power.
Blog Post May 10, 2024 Kyrgyzstan Under Japarov: The Country’s Decline Into Dictatorship For years, Kyrgyzstan was considered the only country that was moving toward democratization in Central Asia as its civil society has mobilized each time to resist the oppression of tyrants.
Blog Post May 9, 2024 Thailand Election: A New Beginning or Political Déjà Vu? Thailand’s general elections are set to be held on May 14. Up to 70 political parties, both big and small, are running candidates in these elections hoping to win seats in the parliament.
Blog Post May 3, 2024 Capital Punishment in Vladimir Putin’s Russia On Monday, an independent polling organization reported that more than 50% of ordinary Russian citizens support bringing back the death penalty, yet another sign of the public’s growing approval of the use of capital punishment over the last 10 years.
Blog Post Apr 22, 2024 Beyond Borders: China’s Attempts to Censor Global Academia The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is dedicated to perfecting its global narrative, employing a combination of coercion and co-optation tactics to shape public discourse both within China and abroad.
Blog Post Mar 27, 2024 Beyond Borders: China’s Grip on Global Media Controlling the public narrative is the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) modus operandi. It relies on narrative and revisionist storytelling to coerce its subjects into ideological adherence.
Blog Post Mar 12, 2024 Early Presidential Elections in Azerbaijan: Elections Without a Choice On Feb. 17, Azerbaijani dictator Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz held a meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
Blog Post Mar 11, 2024 Venezuela expelled the UN: Why it matters By the end of this year, three of Latin America’s worst authoritarian regimes will undergo mandatory reviews of their country’s human rights record.
