Publikationen

The fate of Ai Weiwei is representative for dozens of other recently arrested Uighur, Tibetan, Mongolian and Chinese authors and artists. Just one day in prison almost cost Tibetan author Pema Rinchen his life. The 25-year-old was arrested on 5 July 2011 and then – just 24 hours later – admitted to hospital with serious injuries, even though torture has been officially banned in China for more than 20 years.

Despite hopes for major reforms and a new semi-civilian government serious human rights violations persist in Myanmar. Some 2,100 prisoners of conscience are still detained; torture and ill-treatment during interrogations, the abuse of prisoners as porters of the army and inhumane prison conditions still are a major problem.

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN DRIP), adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2007, is the most comprehensive and advanced of international instruments dealing with indigenous peoples’ rights. Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States of America rejected the Declaration at first but likewise gave their consent later. Those states who decided to abstain still need to be encouraged to endorse the Convention.

Under the dictatorial one-party rule of President Isaias Afewerki’s People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) the human rights situation did not show any signs of improvement in Eritrea.

The Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) has been ruling the country since the liberation in 1975. The MPLA was confirmed in the legislative elections of 2008, the first general elections since 1992. Despite this victory in elections, the government still is exercising a tight control of the media, civil society, human rights defenders and political dissidents.

Twenty years after the beginning of the Algerian Civil War which started in December 1991 justice is still denied by Algerian authorities. No efforts were undertaken to investigate the disappearance of thousands of citizens or other serious human rights violations.

The aims of the first Petersberg conference have not been achieved. Warlordism and Islamic fundamentalism threaten to take over Afghan politics. The ISAF counterinsurgency strategy aims to co-opt local power brokers. These days the decision of NATO to stop the transfer of prisoners to the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS) prisons as a means of avoiding torture speaks for itself.