Africa
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Another Unhappy Anniversary for Mahmoud Hussein
Tags Share Two years ago today, Mahmoud Mohamed Ahmed Hussein put on a t-shirt that read a “nation without torture” and went to a peaceful protest. The government’s response to these simple acts changed his life and have become a glaring example of the deteriorating human rights situation in Egypt. On January 25, 2014, Mahmoud…
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Premature Celebration for Gambia’s FGM Ban
Tags Share The Gambia was thrust into the spotlight this week after the country’s longtime president, Yahya Jammeh, announced a ban on female genital mutilation (FGM). This pronouncement surprised many, especially after the country’s National Assembly rejected a similar proposal in March of this year, claiming that Gambians “were not ready.” Activists who work closely…
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RFK Human Rights Submits Case to UN Working Group
Tags Share Read the full U.N. Working Group petition here. (November 13, 2015 | Washington, D.C.) Today Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights submitted an urgent action and petition to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) on behalf of Egyptian teenager Mahmoud Mohamed Ahmed Hussein. The case was submitted in conjunction with the…
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Detention of Egyptian Human Rights Defender Hossam Bahgat
Tags Share (November 10, 2015 | Washington, D.C.) Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights expresses alarm at the temporary detention and attempted intimidation of Egyptian human rights defender and investigative journalist Hossam Bahgat. Hossam Bahgat, founder of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)—one of the country’s preeminent civil society organizations—was ordered detained by the military…
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Arrests in Zimbabwe Part of Broader Crackdown on Human Rights
Tags Share The media profession in Zimbabwe is once again under siege. During the past week, four newspaper journalists have been arrested, and three of them charged with slander, in a country already notorious for systematic violations of human rights. On the surface, this latest crackdown might be expected, or at the least, not altogether…
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Enough is Enough in Horribly Repressive Eritrea
Tags Share This week, Swedish-Eritrean journalist Dawit Isaak spent his fourteenth consecutive birthday in prison. Isaak was arrested back in 2001, along with twenty others, for signing an open letter critical of the government in Asmara. These individuals were labeled as “spies” and enemies of the state simply for demanding democratic reforms in their country.…
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Angola’s Escalating Repression Should Prompt American Action
Tags Share After almost four decades in power, Angolan President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, aged 73, continues to smash dissent with the keenly energetic fists of a much younger man. Indeed, Angola’s political climate has only become more toxic and paranoid over the course of 2015. We have witnessed the legal persecution of a journalist…
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UN: Unprecedented Concluding Observations on Western Sahara
Tags Share (October 20, 2015 | Washington, D.C.) Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights commends the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) for its Concluding Observations to Morocco with regards to Western Sahara. In September 2015, the CESCR reviewed the Kingdom of Morocco’s compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and…
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UN Treaty Body Must Hold Morocco to Account
Tags Share (Washington, D.C. | September 1, 2015) Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, in partnership with several other non-governmental organizations and academics, formally submitted observations to the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR Committee) regarding human rights violations in Western Sahara. The ESCR Committee will review the Kingdom of Morocco’s compliance…
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Letter Urges President Obama to Support African Civil Society During Visit to Continent
Tags Share (Washington, D.C. | July 14, 2015) Today, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, together with Front Line Defenders, Open Society Foundations, and the World Movement for Democracy, delivered a letter to President Barack Obama (attached below), welcoming his decision to once again visit the sub-Saharan Africa region. The letter highlighted particular human rights concerns…
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RFK Human Rights Releases Analysis on Voting Rights Violations in Ethiopia
Tags Share Read the full report here (Washington, D.C.) Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights (RFK Human Rights) released a briefing paper (see attachment) today documenting a range of human rights violations that have taken place in the context of Ethiopia’s upcoming parliamentary election, scheduled for May 24, and calls upon African Union (AU) election observers…
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