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Netizen Report: If protecting your privacy is ‘part of a conspiracy,’ then we’re all in big trouble · Global Voices
Netizen Report Team

“Hacker” by the Preiser Project via Flickr. (CC BY 2.0)
The Advox Netizen Report offers an international snapshot of challenges, victories, and emerging trends in technology and human rights around the world. This report covers news and events from April 04 – April 19, 2019.
On April 11, two arrests were made in cases that could set game-changing legal precedents threatening online privacy and free speech protections.
The first case made headlines worldwide: Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange was arrested by British police at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he had lived since 2012.
Legal and ethical debates about the impact of material released on WikiLeaks — troves of classified documents that have affected the rise, fall and floundering of multiple governments around the world —  alongside sexual assault allegations against Assange, have resurfaced in public debate since his arrest. But these are not new.
What is newly public is the US Justice Department’s indictment of Assange, which was filed in March 2018 but kept under seal until now. The indictment seeks charges against Assange under the 1984 US Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, accusing him of conspiring to “knowingly access a computer, without authorization” (e.g. crack a password) to facilitate Chelsea Manning’s “acquisition and transmission of classified information related to the national defense of the United States…”
But the indictment also details the means by which Assange communicated with Chelsea Manning, describing secure, open source technologies such as the chat service Jabber and the open source computer software Linux as “part of the conspiracy.”
Technical experts in the human rights field who handle sensitive information online know that using tools like these is considered only a best practice. These tools were built with privacy as their primary objective, and they are vital to the protection of journalists’ sources, not to mention the transmission of sensitive information about human rights abuses by lawyers, researchers and activists worldwide.
In an opinion piece for The Guardian, Freedom of the Press Foundation Executive Director Trevor Timm warned of the legal precedent that the case could set in the US, pending Assange’s extradition. He highlighted the fact that using digital privacy tools like Jabber has become a “common journalistic practice”:
Once there is law on the books that says “this aspect of journalism is illegal”, it becomes much easier for the justice department to bring other cases against more mainstream government critics down the road, and much harder for judges to immediately dismiss them.
[…]
…it’s clear that they are using the conspiracy charge as a pretext to target Assange and potentially criminalize important and common journalistic practices in newsgathering at the same time.
The legal precedent that Timm foresees may be set even sooner in Ecuador, where another “computer-related crime” case is taking shape.
The other case, which has garnered much less media attention, is that of Ola Bini, the Swedish free software developer who was detained at the Mariscal Sucre Airport in Quito, Ecuador, where he has lived since 2013. Bini is part of the broader global digital rights community to which Global Voices is strongly tied.
On April 13, Ecuador’s federal prosecutor announced that the government had filed charges against Bini for “alleged participation in the crime of assault on the integrity of computer systems” and attempts to destabilize the country. Interior Minister María Paula Romo also has said that Bini “supported” Wikileaks.
Bini will be detained for 90 days while prosecutors pursue their investigation. Police have searched his home and confiscated numerous electronic devices and hard drives. The public prosecutor’s office posted photos of the devices on its website, as if to associate common electronic storage devices with serious crimes. Ecuadorian authorities have yet to offer evidence to support their accusations.
In a statement to his supporters, Bini asserted that the case against him is based “based on the books I've read and the technology I have.” He wrote:
I believe strongly in the right to privacy. Without privacy, we can't have agency, and without agency we are slaves. That's why I have dedicated my life to this struggle. Surveillance is a threat to us all, we must stop it….If Ecuador can do this, so can others. We have to stop this idea now, before it's too late.
David Kaye, UN Special Rapporteur for the protection of free expression, and Edison Lanza, who serves a similar role in the Inter-American Free Commission on Human Rights, have expressed concern about Bini's arrest.
Free speech advocacy group ARTICLE 19 has called for Bini’s release:
ARTICLE 19 is concerned that the arrest and illegal detention of Ola Bini is part of a crackdown against the community of developers who build digital security technology tools which enable Internet freedoms and secure communication online.
This week, both Apple and Google removed the mega-popular short video streaming app Tiktok from their app stores in India in compliance with an order from the country’s information and technology ministry.
Owned by Chinese tech giant Douyin, Tiktok was released globally in 2018 and the company says it has more than 120 million users in India. The removal order came after the Madras high court ruled that the app could expose children to sexual predators, pornographic content and cyberbullying and put a ban on downloading the app. The court also extended the ruling to media outlets, banning them from using Tiktok footage in their reporting.
The New Delhi-based Software Freedom Law Centre has pointed out that the Madras court ruling disregards constitutional protections for free speech, as well as India’s IT Act, which protects online platforms from liability for illegal content posted on their platforms by third parties.
Tiktok has been banned in Bangladesh and was briefly blocked in Indonesia, and is facing legal challenges in the US, also on child privacy grounds.
A restaurant worker in Ningbo, China was robbed by two co-workers as he lay sleeping in a shared dormitory for food workers. The two men did not steal money from his pockets, however. Instead, they took the man’s phone and pointed it at his sleeping face, prompting its facial recognition system to unlock the device. They then transferred 10,000 yuan (about US $1500) from his WeChat account to their own accounts. In China, WeChat payment has all but replaced cash and even credit cards in many aspects of daily life, both when paying for goods and services, and sending money to family or friends.
On April 15, internet service providers in Egypt blocked over 34,000 web domains in what appears to be an effort to stifle voices and initiatives opposing draft constitutional amendments that would allow president al-Sisi to extend his term in office until 2030. Many of the websites affected by the block are associated with a campaign to oppose the amendments, which would also limit judiciary independence and allow the military to wield greater influence over political decision making. The campaign organizers estimate that 250,000 people have signed their petition opposing the amendments.
Emirati human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor has endured an open-ended hunger strike since approximately mid-March 2019. His supporters say his health is rapidly deteriorating. In May 2018, he was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison under the 2012 Cybercrime Law of “insulting the status and prestige of the UAE” and “publishing false reports and information on social media to damage the UAE's relationship with its neighbouring countries.”
Prior to his 2017 arrest, he campaigned online on behalf of jailed activists in the UAE and elsewhere in the region. He is the 2015 laureate of the Martin Ennals Foundation, which supports human rights defenders who are at risk.
Afef Abrougui, Ellery Roberts Biddle, Rohith Jyothish, Rezwan Islam, Filip Noubel, Taisa Sganzerla, Ivan Sigal and Nevin Thompson contributed to this report.

author: Netizen Report Team


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Government actions in Sri Lanka Easter bombings raise the question: Is social media helping or hurting? · Global Voices
Ivan Sigal

The Kingsbury Hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka, one of the sites of coordinated bombings that took place in the country on April 21. Photo by AKS.9955 via Wikimedia Commons.
As the tragedy surrounding attacks on churches and hotels unfolded in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, the Sri Lankan government took the unusual step of preemptively blocking a range of social media sites.
The president's office announced a block of Facebook and Instagram, reasoning that they could be used to spread misinformation. Internet censorship research group Netblocks reported evidence that WhatsApp, YouTube, Viber, Snapchat and Messenger were down as well.
Shutdowns like this are a clear violation of international rights to free expression and access to information. The protection of these rights is especially important in emergency situations, where people may need to call for help or communicate with family and friends to ensure their safety. While internet shutdowns are increasingly used as a tactic by governments to control online expression, pre-emptive shutdowns are quite rare. For instance, Bangladesh justified a block of Facebook, Viber and WhatsApp in 2016 as as a public security measure.
It is, unfortunately, not entirely surprising that the Sri Lankan government has taken this route, as Sri Lanka’s long history of communal violence has repeatedly played out in social media spaces. In March 2018, the government blocked Facebook, WhatsApp and Viber as part of its attempt to quell sectarian violence in the aftermath of clashes between Muslims and Buddhists in the city of Kandy, which resulted in the burning of a mosque and attacks on Muslim-owned businesses.
At the time, Nalaka Gunawaredene, writing on the citizen media site Groundviews, argued that these bans were counterproductive and ineffective, cutting many people off from important sources of information while tech-savvy and wealthier users simply switched on VPNs to skirt the blocks. Separate studies by the researcher and novelist Yudhanjaya Wijeratne and Ray Serrato found that many people installed VPNs to get around the blocks, and that the shutdowns hurt businesses reliant on social media platforms.
Those analyses haven’t stopped the Sri Lankan government from repeating and expanding its blocking exercise, this time with the apparent intention of preempting expected misinformation, disinformation and rumor, and to keep people from organizing reprisals.
Wijeratne reports on Twitter that he’s seeing more people prepared to skirt the blocks.
Just a general observation: this time, people seemed far more prepared to work around the block. Clearly citizens learned from March, if not the government.
— Yudhanjaya Wijeratne ? (@yudhanjaya) April 21, 2019
Others are still turning to social media platforms to inform themselves and stay in touch their communities.
Respect ? Sri Lankans??!
Massive Kindness ,We All Can Proud !
Blood donors are flooding , Large number of people donating bloods in hospitals following Government requests #LKA #SriLanka #EasterSunday #EasterSundayAttacksLK #EasterAttackSL #Colombo pic.twitter.com/15pegwOnlV
— Sri Lanka Tweet ?? (@SriLankaTweet) April 21, 2019
Despite the fact that it is currently blocked in Sri Lanka, Facebook has launched its crisis response tool to report news, and to help users report whether they have been affected or search for possibly affected friends.
The government’s decision to shut down social media has evoked frustration, because such blocks are generally ineffective and cut people off from vital communication channels in a time of need.
But others have expressed support for the move. The Guardian quotes a Colombo resident who says that: “Not shutting down social media could have led to people coordinating attacks and riots against Muslims.”
The response in Sri Lanka, from both the government and many residents, suggests some collective ambivalence on the question of whether these platforms can have a net positive effect in a situation of emergency.
This is a markedly different narrative from what seemed dominant just a few years ago, when social media platforms were lauded as a powerful way to coordinate assistance in times of crisis. Facebook's safety check tool even became a subject of controversy when it was not made available to residents of cities like Beirut, in the aftermath of bombings in 2015.
But today there is clearly deep uncertainty regarding the companies’ ability to keep vulnerable users safe in a crisis situation. Hate speech and disinformation appear to be driving factors in this change. In recent years, Sri Lankan digital media experts and advocates have implored social media companies to find ways to contain online hate speech, harassment and disinformation, to little avail.
In a 2018 report, Digital Blooms: Social Media and Violence in Sri Lanka, Sanjana Hattotuwa notes that both Facebook and other social media platforms, and the Sri Lankan government, failed to stop the proliferation of hate speech and disinformation surrounding the violence in 2018. Hattotuwa focuses on Facebook, as the preferred platform for Sinhala-language communications. He notes that while “social media is not the source of violent conflict,” it did provide a “channel to incite hate and mob violence.”
Facebook’s response to the Easter Sunday events in Sri Lanka has been remarkably muted, focusing on assistance to first responders and law enforcement, and simply stating that they are “aware of the government’s statement regarding the temporary blocking of social media platforms” and committed to helping.
Just as we may once have viewed blocking of social media sites in times of crisis as outrageous censorship, we might now see increased public support for blocks if social media companies are unable to manage threats and disinformation on their platforms.
At this moment of horror and sadness in Sri Lanka, the fate of platforms and their use may be a minor point. But the swift decision to block access to these platforms suggests that, in the eyes of the Sri Lankan government, social media platforms can make an already bad situation worse. In the days and weeks to come, the companies may see this as a moment to reflect on where they've gone wrong.

source: news-globalvoices

license: Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

author: Ivan Sigal


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India bans China’s TikTok for ‘degrading culture and encouraging pornography’ · Global Voices
Subhashish Panigrahi

Mashup from Image via Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain.
[UPDATE] April 25, 2019: The Tamil Nadu high court lifted the ban on TikTok on April 24, after hearing arguments from the company and amici. The company says technology has been put in place that will prevent the upload of obscene/nude content.
Amid high tensions in India's election season, a court in the country's southeastern state of Tamil Nadu issued an order than bans people from downloading TikTok, a hugely popular quick video-sharing app based in China.
The court order says TikTok enables “cultural degradation and pornography” and also cites concerns that young users on the platform were putting their privacy at risk. The order also extends the ruling to media outlets, banning them from using Tiktok footage in their reporting.
Soon thereafter, India's information and telecommunication ministry ordered both Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores on 16 April. The companies complied, creating confusion among users.
TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance, which is expanding rapidly in India, has challenged the ruling. In a statement about the ruling, TikTok said:
We have faith in the Indian judicial system and we are optimistic about an outcome that would be well received by over 120 million monthly active users in India.
In the meantime, the 120 million users are still able to use TikTok, as the ban only blocks people from downloading the app.
The app, which is most popular among youngsters, sparked public concern in October 2018 when a young woman took her own life in a TikTok video, in Tamil Nadu. The woman had been facing severe online harassment.
The app also has been decried for allowing propagation of “pornographic and sleazy content” and has been under fire in many countries. A BBC investigation had found the company had failed to suspend accounts of people sending sexual and threatening messages to users as young as nine years old. It has also been depicted as a fertile ground for pedophilia and users trying to lure children with holiday promises.
With regards to suicide, Tamil Nadu's IT minister M Manikandan earlier this year agreed with the claims the app encouraged pornography and degraded Indian culture. But many users say the rule has negative implications for free speech.
Apar Gupta from Internet Freedom Foundation wrote:
There may be a range of harms such as cyberbullying, pedophilia, impact on adolescent health and privacy harms which need to be considered. But, app bans impact free speech, rights of assembly, entertainment, etc. So, the government should not do that and should consider harms in a policy framework.
I'd explained why the Madras HC's ban on Tiktok is worrying back when it was first issued.
Frankly, I feel the SC has failed to uphold the Constitution right to freedom of expression here.https://t.co/ipLeR07MBa
— Nikhil Pahwa (@nixxin) April 17, 2019
The Software Freedom Law Centre in New Delhi concurred, noting that the court's order “violates the fundamental right of free speech as enshrined under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India.” It also called the accompanying media ban “classic example of judicial pre-censorship.”
Expressing concern about the ban, local feminist news portal SheThePeople highlighted a few prominent women TikTok users who had gained notoriety using the app.
With China's poor human rights record and strict limitations of free speech, other users criticized the company's request from India's apex court seeking withdrawal of the ban.
Just as Huawei is suing the U.S. government in an American court, the Chinese company that owns TikTok app tells India's Supreme Court that a ban on the app will hurt free speech rights, including by “curtailing the rights” of Indians. TikTok is becoming “a Huawei-sized problem.”
— Brahma Chellaney (@Chellaney) April 11, 2019
TikTok, formerly known as Musical.ly, has one of the world's fastest-growing user bases platforms, with 500 million users globally. Here's what a report from Statista shows about TikTok's user base:
India Ban Hits TikTok Where It Hurts. Infographic by Statista and Priori Data. CC BY-SA.
Eva Short writes in Silicon Republic:
Its meteoric growth has been helped in no small part by the gaggle of budding social media stars it has produced, some of whom have more followers than Ariana Grande and many of whom are, critically, underage. At one point in 2018, the app had managed to surpass Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and Snapchat in number of downloads.
For the platform, this is the latest setback after it was banned in Bangladesh and recently also handed its largest-ever fine in a US case for illegally gathering children's data. It had accepted to pay 5.7 million US dollars and implement new child protection measures.
While Tik Tok users, Internet freedom advocates and all those affected by the ban wait for the Madras High Court's next hearing on April 24, the whole debate highlights the need for more public discourse on cyber law and complex internet freedom issues.

author: Subhashish Panigrahi


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A conversation with the creator of FindyourB, a podcast for soul-searching Kazakh millennials · Global Voices
Filip Noubel

The home page of FindyourB's web site.
An oil engineer by day, at night Kazakhstan native Kairzhan Albazarov turns into a podcaster.
Kairzhan, who is in his 30s and based in Denmark, launched his show, FindyourB, three years ago. Most of his guests are Kazakh millennials experiencing an early mid-life crisis, who are questioning their life path as well as the values imposed on them by Kazakh society and traditions. Some of them have made unusual U-turns in their careers. All have one thing in common: they value their individual freedom highly, and dream of an alternative model for Kazakh society. Recently FindyourB has welcomed guests from nearby Kyrgyzstan, and produced episodes in the Kazakh language.
The following is an abridged transcript of an audio interview I did with Kairzhan in Russian in February 2019.
Filip Noubel: Through your podcast, FindyourB, you have become what seems to me a sort of ‘doctor of the Kazakhstani soul’. One should add that podcasts are a rather new phenomenon in Kazakhstani culture. How did you switch from the oil industry to podcast production? People in Kazakhstan usually consider that if you work in the oil industry you have really made it.
Kairzhan Albazarov: I still work in the oil industry, in fact. It started when I moved to Denmark in 2016, and went through a period of adjustment which was far from easy. I understood that I needed a hobby, even though I was very successful in my profession as an engineer of international standard. There was a larger part of myself I still couldn’t express. For introverts like me, podcasts represent much more than content—they’re like friends, and I understood I wanted to produce podcasts for people who live in Kazakhstan, and who have many problems. We have many social issues that are not discussed. I started podcasting first inviting friends, and then more well-known people on the show.
You’re right, people who work in the oil industry in Kazakhstan make good money, and tend to be upwardly mobile. My parents didn’t understand at first. My grandmother to this day believes this is a waste of time. But in reality, podcasting saved me from depression, from losing my moral grounding. Now my life feels quite balanced.
FN: Can you explain the specifics of your podcast, and where the name, ‘FindyourB’, comes from?
KA: Two or three years ago, the only thing people talked about in Kazakhstan was success, how to be strong, beautiful, but this [discourse] doesn’t reflect at all the level of suicides there are, the tension in society. On the podcast, we discuss real-life issues: depression, failure. We talk honestly about family, corruption, pain, and we heal as we let emotions come out.
Regarding the name, I wanted to call the podcast Open Yourself Up, or Authentic Self, since the main idea is about discovering the true self. In all courses about how to make a podcast you are told that, before you name your podcast, you should find a free domain. But the names I had in mind were taken, and I decided to give it a name with local characteristics. The letter ‘B’ comes from the Kazakh name Batyr, which recurs in many Turkic eposes: he is a hero, a superhero, but not necessarily a male fighter. Rather, Batyr describes a human being, regardless of gender or ethnicity, who tries to find out who they are to get rid of stereotypes, of peer pressure imposed by society, culture and family.
FN: How do find your guests, and convince them to take part in your show?
KA: I started with people from the industry I work in. Then I thought of the people I know personally and who could serve as prototypes for Batyr. I found a woman who had studied with me very successfully to become an oil engineer, who started a Master’s in Europe, and then, to everyone’s surprise, decided to take up dance and to teach dance in Italy. I am lucky to know people like this, who were following a very predictable and stable path but who suddenly did a U-turn and moved to something different, and yet became successful in their new pastime.
It was very difficult to reach out to media celebrities. I would send ten invitations a day, but no one knew me, they didn't even know what podcasting was. My breakthrough happened in February 2018 when I spoke with an expert in political science, a local influencer, and since then I have no problem — people accept readily because I am not politically affiliated.
Graphic from a FindyourB episode featuring one of the very few out member of Kazakhstan's LGBTQ+ community.
FN:  Who listens to your show?
KA: My audience is quite unique: it is made of people who like to think, to develop their critical thinking. My guests agree to come to the show because they liked one of the previous interviews, thanks to word of mouth. There are also Instagrammers seeking to reach out to a new audience. The main thing is honesty, without any hype or aggressive behavior. I don't have a specific agenda, quality content is what matters the most. I create an intimate atmosphere so that people can share stories about their own life.
On average, I have five to six thousand listeners per show. This figure represents a rather diverse audience because my guests vary: politicians, political science experts, musicians. I do this on purpose to present a representative slice of Kazakhstani society, so that certain groups can learn to listen and understand what might be unknown or alien to them. The first listeners were friends, then came habitual podcast listeners, then people who are more religious, conservative, ethnic Kazakhs and Kazakh-speakers, and people trying to unite the Kazakh and the Western world. These are people aged 14 to 45, usually.
The feedback I get from my audience is my main motivation. One university professor told me she asks her students to listen to the podcasts and then write essays. People with emotional challenges find new prospects, as they identify with some of the ‘heroes’ of the shows they do what is needed to find their own ‘Batyr’. I also have some haters who insult me, particularly since two shows, one with a political science expert and another with a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
One of my listeners also became a guest: an ethnic Kazakh who moved from Mongolia back to Kazakhstan—an ‘Oralman’ as we call them—wrote his story in the show’s Telegram channel, and it touched me. He had dreamt for decades of returning to Kazakhstan and he did, but had to face our reality.
In 2018 I organized two face-to-face meetings with my listeners in Almaty. It was very moving, a gathering of like-minded people. One guy said this: “I thought I was the only such freak. Now I understand there are many of us.” Another guy wrote me to say that he’d met his wife via FindyourB, and that they are now expecting a baby.The meetings were small-scale, about 20 to 30 people. It was nice to be in such a safe environment. Having lived abroad and adopted different values I have lost many friends, but also found new ones, and some of them help to produce the podcast.
FN: In one show you paraphrase the Russian media star Vladimir Posner, saying that while there are journalists in Kazakhstan, there is no journalism to talk about. Can you explain what you mean?
KA: I am not a journalist, but after I launched my podcast in 2016, I found an online course on Coursera, a journalism class from the University of Pennsylvania. The course taught basic rules of journalism, such as objectivity. When one looks at the state of journalism in Kazakhstan there is indeed little objectivity: competent journalists cannot speak their minds because media are affiliated with the government or to businesses affiliated with the government. People who practise journalism as a hobby, such as bloggers, do it on Facebook. This shows that social media are much more influential than [traditional] media in Kazakhstan.
FN: Do you consider FindyourB a form of journalism? Can a podcast become an alternative media space in Kazakhstan?
KA: I don’t know. FindyourB is my hobby. I do it after my full-time job, after I take care of my family, and cannot produce episodes very regularly. I want to understand what is happening in my country. I still want to return to Kazakhstan, to raise my child there, so I cannot be indifferent to the situation in which he will live. But I consider journalism something on a large scale with more resources
FN: In your show the idea of “tradition” features quite often. One of your guests said: “We are nomads, and ideally, should be free, yet we are all indebted”. Why this feeling?
KA: It is very difficult to be Kazakh today in Kazakhstan. The country is at the crossroads of cultures: there’s the attractive Western culture that promotes freedom, democracy and individualism; then we have our Kazakh traditions that emphasize collective thinking and respect for the elderly, which is often abuse. And then there is also the heritage of the Soviet period. This creates tremendous contradictions: you want to be modern, to study abroad, but you are also required to stay with your parents.
After I left to go abroad, people accused me of abandoning my country and betraying my people. A lot of my friends, who are around the same age, cannot find a wife, because according to traditional family mores, the wife should be under the control of the husband’s parents. I will say something that is not popular: those traditions eat up a lot of energy, all those weddings, reunions, and celebrations. It is only because I am away, in Denmark, that I can find time to do my podcasts.
FN: How do you see your podcast evolving? What is the future of podcasting in Kazakhstan and in the Kazakh language?
KA: People are making podcasts now as they understand this is the future and will grow big in the next 3 to 5 years. There is one podcast in Kazakh done by a female podcaster, about self-development. It is essential to conduct interviews in Kazakh, because there are more problems and less information within the Kazakh-speaking community. Podcasting is what will democratize journalism.You can save time, and grow even without reading books. It’s very difficult to ban podcasting. This is the future.

author: Filip Noubel


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A look at United Arab Emirate’s renewable energy goals · Global Voices
Sania Aziz Rahman

A parabolic trough which collects solar heat in Abu Dhabi called “Shams 1″. Image credit: Masdar via Flickr
In January, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) published a report outlining the Gulf Cooperation Council's (GCC) market trends and analysis on the renewable energy sector. The United Arab Emirates, the report said, hosts up to 79 percent of the installed solar Photovoltaic capacity in the GCC. The country also “managed to attract some low-cost solar Photovoltaic projects without offering subsidies.”
So what is the UAE doing to increase energy from renewable sources and how is it meeting the goals it set for itself?
As of 2016, the UAE produces this many gigawatts of electricity through solar and biogas energy:
And this is how many megawatts of electricity the Emirate of Abu Dhabi is producing through solar energy as of 2016:
Dubai, however, opened its first solar park in 2013, so until then, no electricity was produced from solar energy in the Emirate:
The UAE has installed capacity for both Photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar power.
As part of Dubai Clean Energy Strategy to generate 75 percent of Dubai’s power from clean energy by 2050, Dubai will build the largest Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) project on a single site in the world, which is expected to begin power generation within the next five years.
Meanwhile, Sharjah, the third largest emirate in the country, is aiming to build a solar-powered ‘sustainable city’ some 11 kilometers away from the Sharjah International Airport. The government of Umm Al Quwain, another emirate of the UAE, is also pursuing a plan to build a 200-megawatt solar park in Falaj al Mu’alla are of the emirate.
In September 2016, the UAE signed and ratified the Paris Climate Agreement which aims to mitigate and limit climate change. However, the goals set by the UAE are being deemed as “highly insufficient” by some organizations. For example, Climate Action Tracker says that the UAE’s climate commitment for 2021 is “is not consistent with holding warming to below 2°C, let alone limiting it to 1.5°C as required under the Paris Agreement.”
Besides, the UAE also subsidizes prices for crude oil and natural gas even though petrol and diesel are subject to a 5% VAT. Yet, the UAE’s petrol and diesel prices are well below the global average. As of April 2019, the global petrol price was USD 1.14 per liter while UAE’s price stood at a mere USD 0.57 per liter.
This is clearly not enough to significantly and drastically reduce the use of fossil fuels in the country.
In 2017, as per IRENA, the UAE already had 0.85 megawatts of installed capacity for wind energy.
The UAE is also investing more in bioenergy. For example, Masdar (a renewable energy company)  signed a development agreement in 2017 with environmental management company Bee'ah to develop the UAE’s first waste-to-energy power plant. This plant will be located at the Waste Management Center in Sharjah.
Priscilla Joseph, part of BactoWatt, a startup which aims to recover bioenergy from wastewater told Global Voices that:
Apart from solar energy, there is also growing demand for bioenergy, especially for technology that converts waste to energy in the UAE. Right now it is only in its initial stages, but we hope to soon turn bioenergy technology into a commercially viable product.
The UAE aims to meet 30 percent of its energy needs from clean energy by 2030. Currently, the UAE claims to have 0.54 percent of its clean energy share, and this includes both renewable and nuclear energy.
Worldwide, IRENA set a target of meeting 65 percent of energy via renewable sources by 2050. However, IRENA also predicted that at current trends, the world can only meet 25 percent of that goal.
A worried Joseph also said, “We really need to figure out a way to bridge that 40 percent gap.”

author: Sania Aziz Rahman


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Leica’s promo video referencing Tiananmen Square massacre went viral on Chinese social media. Then, it disappeared. · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

June 4 Tank man reflected on camera lens. Screen capture from Youtube, Leica: – the Hunt
A new video promoting the German camera company Leica has caused an uproar on the Chinese internet, resulting in a ban on the video and its derivatives.
Produced by Leica’s ad agency F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi, five-minute video was launched in Brazil on April 16 to celebrate 100 years of the brand.
The video, titled “The Hunt”, features a collage of photographers documenting violence and hardship in different parts of the world. It is book-ended with scenes from inside a Beijing hotel in 1989, where a photographer is harassed by Chinese military officers but then left alone. Gunfire can be heard in the background as the photographer walks to the window, and raises his camera. Reflected in the lens, we see the infamous image of military tanks moving through Tiananmen Square towards a single protester standing before them.
Viewers familiar with this history will know the reference to the infamous “Tank Man” photo, originally shot by Jeff Widener at Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. On that day, the Chinese military carried out a brutal crackdown on student-led demonstrations calling for democratic reforms. At the time, the Chinese Red Cross estimated that 2,700 civilians were killed, but more recent estimates from US and UK government agencies put the number above 10,000.
Researchers at the University of Hong Kong have shown that the Tiananmen Square massacre, often referred to simply as “June 4″, is the most heavily censored topic on the Chinese internet.
Reacting to the video, some social media users said it was “insulting China”, while others began questioning the business partnership between Leica and Huawei, China’s largest mobile phone manufacturer and 5G network developer. Huawei has been promoting Leica’s lenses in some of their phones.
Though the video was not targeted at a Chinese audience, it swiftly circulated on Chinese social media and went viral overnight.
Chinese censors reacted quickly and issued the following instruction, which were leaked on April 18 (via China Digital Times):
As quickly as possible, all video websites find and delete video and images from the Leica advertisement. (April 18, 2019)
For the next few days, users were forbidden from writing the words “Leica” in English and “徕卡” in Chinese on Weibo.
Twitter user @woilgoo posted a screenshot of the censorship notice that users received when trying to publish these words on Weibo. The notice cites “a violation of relevant laws and regulations or the Weibo Community Convention”.
#leica #莱卡 关键词被微博weibo封杀屏蔽。 pic.twitter.com/B7yRUdG9jN
— SYECOR (@woilgoo) April 18, 2019
Nevertheless, conversations about the video continue to emerge on Weibo. Users who are active on mainland Chinese platforms and Twitter have been documenting some of the conversations on Twitter, which is blocked in China, but still accessible via VPN.
Twitter user @cheriechancy captured one comment thread under Leica's official account on Weibo:
Although #TheHunt video cannot be found on #Leica’s Weibo account, Chinese social media users still managed to comment on an earlier post, subtly referring to the controversial ad and expressing appreciation and surprise that the account is still up and running #徕卡 pic.twitter.com/El2nE6nPmt
— Cherie Chan 陳卓妍 (@cheriechancy) April 19, 2019
After the censorship machine stepped in, the incident cooled off quickly and all traces of the video were removed from major Chinese social media platforms.
Now, social media users can publish posts about Leica, so long as the term is not connected to other sensitive content.
Outside China, the video continues to circulate. On Facebook, many overseas Chinese users shared the video to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the June 4 massacre. On YouTube, the majority of the feedback has been very positive:
Good job Leica. Salute to all the brave journalists in the world!
You earned my respect Leica, dare to tell the truth…but may god bless your business at mainland China…
a great video, why people of china dislike it who knows… Maybe they cant face the truth of about there [sic] government …

author: Oiwan Lam


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As a comedian wins Ukraine’s presidency by a landslide, Russians watch with awe and envy · Global Voices
RuNet Echo

Olga Skabeyeva and Yevgeny Popov, Russian state TV's power couple, hosted a 6-hour long live commentary show about the Ukrainian presidential debates on April 19. Photo by Rossiya 24, screencapped by Runet Echo.
Ukraine's presidential runoff wrapped up with a crushing defeat to incumbent Petro Poroshenko, who lost by a 50-point margin to the 41-year-old comic actor with no political experience, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Zelenskiy seems to have embodied a widespread dissatisfaction with Poroshenko's government, particularly with the war against a Russia-backed insurgency in the eastern regions that has claimed 13,000 lives on both sides over the past five years.
While it's too early to say how a political novice will fare as a head of state, the elections that brought him to victory were attentively followed by an audience of millions across the contested border with Russia.
Russians have been glued to their screens as they watched a rare show: a genuinely unpredictable elections campaign where an incumbent can hold debates with an outsider, lose the vote, and concede peacefully.
When the two presidential candidates debated on a half-full stadium in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on April 19, both government-owned TV networks and several independent outlets from Russia ran simultaneous live broadcasts and online video streams.
Meduza, an independent news website, noted that TV debates in Russia’s own presidential elections in 2018 barely got any airtime—with the frontrunner, Vladimir Putin, not even participating—in comparison to the wall-to-wall coverage of Ukraine’s stadium debates:
Да, российскому ТВ украинские выборы интереснее российских.https://t.co/RedyixXBpw
— Meduza (@meduzaproject) 18 апреля 2019 г.
Yes, Russian TV is more interested in Ukrainian elections than in Russia’s own.
The Bell, another independent news website, counted six million views of the Friday debate on the largest Russian YouTube channels.
In addition to watching the debates online or on TV, or reading one of the many live blogs, Russians also took to Twitter en masse to comment and express a whole range of emotions. Sure, Russia’s state television—which is extremely hostile to Ukraine—mocked and derided the debates, casting the elections as a circus, a sign of Ukraine’s imminent collapse.
Not sure this is the lesson most Russians will take. TV broadcast the “debate” because the execs view it as a circus and cautionary tale. Anecdotal evidence goes both ways, I’m sure, but I wouldn’t drop the confetti for Ukraine’s “info success” just yet. https://t.co/UranKu5kGX
— Kevin Rothrock (@KevinRothrock) 19 апреля 2019 г.
Russian state TV hosts spend an hour trying to convince viewers that today’s debate in Kiev was a pointless and cynical farce, naturally without mentioning last time Putin took part in such a debate as a candidate. Which was, uh, when again? https://t.co/gcewHcf1YP
— Joshua Yaffa (@yaffaesque) 19 апреля 2019 г.
Many Russians, however, watched the debates with envy:
Ukrainian debates were watched by almost half a million people on Nabalny Live YouTube channel alone. Many more watched it on Dozhd, RBC and many online outlets with audiences sympathetic to Ukraine. Don’t think it was for the circus.
— Leonid Ragozin (@leonidragozin) 20 апреля 2019 г.
I got an incredible lift out of the Ukrainian debate. Someday, we Russians will do similar things (with better results, I hope). Zelensky wins this one; does Ukraine win? Well, I don't believe so, but I sang the anthem with them. Hope dies last.
— Leonid Bershidsky (@Bershidsky) 19 апреля 2019 г.
Оказывается, президентов можно на выборах менять. Обалдеть. Вы знали вообще?
— ivan davydov (@ivan_f_davydov) 22 апреля 2019 г.
Turns out, you can actually use elections to change presidents! Mind-blowing. Did you even know?
Many pointed out the irony of so much attention to a political theater by a country where real political debates or elections haven’t happened in years:
Надеюсь российское ТВ продолжит традицию передирания офигенных украинских шоу и зафигачит такие же огненные дебаты на президентских выборах (нет)
— с у л т а н о с (@sult) 19 апреля 2019 г.
I hope Russian TV continues its tradition of ripping off awesome Ukrainian shows and holds similarly fiery debates for the presidential elections (it won’t)
Russian state media all over the presidential debates in Ukraine. Showing live on Rossiya 24 with commentators on stand by.
Worth remembering that Putin has never participated in a debate as a presidential candidate. pic.twitter.com/uaq22gXuxV
— Maria Antonova (@mashant) 19 апреля 2019 г.
A telling scene: I’m @ closed discussion club in Moscow hosted by one biz elite. A guest watching Ukr debates on phone. Speaker discussing Ru Econ policy&prognosis, lamenting unlikelihood of liberalization, growth. Ends w toast “to being able to have such debates here one day”
— Noah Sneider (@NoahSneider) 19 апреля 2019 г.
Я не очень понимаю как на выборах в другой стране можно за кого-то топить всерьез, а не как за любимый клуб нхл, и в этой вот системе сложно не топить за зеленского, конечно. Но для меня это политическое шоу, которого мы лишены уже лет 25, имею право удивляться дебатам и прочему
— P. (@3insy) 19 апреля 2019 г.
I don’t quote understand how you can seriously root for someone in another country’s elections, unlike a favorite NHL club, and in this system it’s hard not to root for Zelensky, of course. But it’s a political show of the kind we haven’t had for 25 years, so I have the right to be amazed at these debates and everything else.
Journalist Oleg Kashin, a prominent journalist, posted a meme with Putin saying to famous Russian comedian Mikhail Galustyan “Don’t even think about it!” — a reference to the fact that a popular TV personality challenged the president and won an election.
pic.twitter.com/JlAd7gB6lh
— Kashin⚓Kashin⚓Kashin (@KSHN) 22 апреля 2019 г.
Others were filled with hope and admiration for Ukraine’s democratic success:
Эх, духоподъемное зрелище. Ну ничего, скоро и в России так будет, вот увидите.
— Roman Dobrokhotov (@Dobrokhotov) 19 апреля 2019 г.
Ah, such a spirit-lifting sight. Not to worry, we’ll have the same in Russia soon, you’ll see.
Блестящая речь Порошенко с признанием поражения и поздравлениями Зеленскому. И революция их называлась Революцией Достоинства и ведут они себя достойно!
— Leonid Gozman (@Leonid_Gozman) 22 апреля 2019 г.
A brilliant speech from Poroshenko where he conceded defeat and congratulated Zelensky. Their revolution was nicknamed the Revolution of Dignity, and they are behaving in a dignified way!
And even though state loyalists were uniformly dismissive—Russian foreign ministry’s spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the debates a “tent circus” while Vladimir Putin on Monday refrained from calling Zelensky to congratulate him, as other world leaders did—it’s clear that many Russians are more interested in their neighbors’ politics than their own.

author: RuNet Echo


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Malaysian activist under police probe after LGBT speech at the United Nations · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Malaysian activist Numan Afifi spoke at the UN Human Rights Universal Periodic Review process about the human rights situation in Malaysia. Source: Facebook
LGBT activist Numan Afifi was summoned by the Malaysian police a month after he delivered a statement at the United Nations Human Rights Council. Numan was part of a delegation which participated in the Universal Periodic Review on Malaysia's human rights situation, focusing on issues related to sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression and sex characteristics.
Numan lauded the government’s anti-bullying program but also noted that there is continuing ‘state-sponsored’ LGBT discrimination in Malaysia. He cited the ‘rehabilitation and conversion practices’ targeting the LGBT community. He also mentioned the sedition probe made by authorities against Women’s Day organizers after LGBT banners were seen in the rally.
Numan vowed to continue fighting for human rights. He wrote on Facebook:
I will not bow down to these acts to harass or intimidate me as a human rights defender in Malaysia. I fight for all human rights and will continue doing so. Stand in solidarity with us as we enlarge civic space in Malaysia and condemn those who attempt to shrink it.
Malaysia’s constitution guarantees the protection of minorities, including those who identify themselves as members of the LGBT community. But in recent years, hardline groups have become more aggressive in demanding the strict enforcement of Islamic teachings in governance. Malaysia has a Muslim-dominated population.
The Malaysian Alliance of Civil Society Organisations in the UPR Process (MACSA) said Numan “has relied on no credible evidence to back the incredulous claim” against the ‘rehabilitation’ program Mukhayyam. MACSA clarified that the Mukhayyam program referenced by Numan seeks to “address the escalation of new HIV/AIDS cases amongst transgender persons and men who have sex with men.” It added that:
Participation in the Mukhayyam programme is also completely voluntary with no elements of coercion involved and is far indeed from conversion therapy practised by other countries which involve an element of forced participation.
MACSA is asking Numan to apologize to LGBT members who are part of the program.
But Numan’s statement about ‘state-sponsored violence’ against the LGBT community was backed by 41 civil society organizations:
These state-sponsored activities are harmful by design as they employ rehabilitation and conversion practices which aim to curb and suppress the actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression of LGBT persons. They also encourage others to intervene in the private and public lives of LGBT persons.
Another set of civil society organizations deplored the police probe against Numan:
The police investigation into Numan’s statement merely serves to highlight the harassment, bullying and discrimination faced by LGBT persons in Malaysia. There is absolutely nothing in Numan’s statement that could warrant any investigation by the authorities.
The Coalition of Malaysian NGOs in The UPR Process or COMANGO described the ‘baseless investigation’ against Numan as ‘a new low in terms of state reprisal against human rights defenders in Malaysia.’
The probe does not mention the complaint against Numan and the charge he is being accused of. Numan was ordered by the police to appear and give a statement on 26 April 2019.

author: Mong Palatino


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CEO of carpooling service disinvited from interview on Russian state media after producer found out she was a woman · Global Voices
RuNet Echo

Cardboard cutout of CEO Irina Reyder's photograph in BlaBlaCar's Russian office. Photo Irina Reyder's Facebook page
Irina Reyder, the CEO of the Russian affiliate of carpooling service BlaBlaCar, says she was disinvited from an interview with state-owned Channel One when the program’s editor realized she was a woman.
Reyder wrote on her Facebook page about the incident. She says she was listening in on the call between Channel One’s producer and BlaBlaCar’s PR officer and recorded the exchange between them:
Р (редактор передачи “Доброе утро”): Формат будет такой: корреспондент едет за рулем и берет интервью у вашего эксперта.
PR (PR – менеджер BBC): Да, отлично.
Р : А кто будет спикером?
PR: Наш генеральный директор Ирина Рейдер.
Р : Ой….у вас же был замечательный парень ..
С: Да, у нас был генеральный директор Алексей Лазоренко, а сейчас Ирина Рейдер.
PR : Да, я знаю, что в прошлом году у вас сменился генеральный директор. Но Ирина как спикер не подходит. Понимаете, у зрителя есть стереотипы… Ну, там, хороший юрист – это мужчина. Или автомобильный эксперт – мужчина, но не женщина. Может быть вы, Сергей, сможете дать нам интервью?
E (an editor for Good Morning show): Here’s the format: our reporter is driving a car while interviewing your expert.
PR (PR officer for BlaBlaCar): Yes, great.
E: And who will be the expert?
PR: Our CEO Irina Reyder.
E: Oh… you had a great guy once, didn’t you?
PR: Yes, we had Alexey Lazorenko as CEO, now it’s Irina Reyder.
E: Yes, I know about the changes in your leadership last year. But Irina won’t work as an expert. You see, our audience has certain stereotypes… You know, like when there’s a good lawyer, it’s usually a man. Or someone who knows a lot about cars — a man, but not a woman. Maybe you, Sergey, can give us an interview?
When Reyder’s PR officer Sergey told the editor that there weren’t any male experts in the company, she says, the latter promised to come back later after consulting with their producer. On a call later, they told BlaBlaCar’s representative that the story's format had changed and they would be interviewing the service’s users instead.
“What do you think? Will the new experts be expertly enough?” Reyder asked her followers sarcastically.
In a comment to TJournal, a tech and social media news outlet, Channel One’s own press office didn’t deny the veracity of the exchange, but insisted the approach was not sexist in nature. However, their explanation didn’t offer solid support to that claim:
Два корреспондента — молодой человек и девушка – планируют продемонстрировать мужской и женский подход к экономии. При этом девушка советуется с мужчинами-экспертами, а молодой человек — с экспертами-женщинами. Поскольку девушка планирует экономить на поездках, ей предстоит разговаривать с представителем сервиса поиска попутчиков (да, по задумке этого сюжета, а не из-за гендерного неравенства, он должен быть мужчиной).
Two reporters, a young man and a woman, intend to demonstrate the difference between male and female approach to savings. The young woman reporter will be interviewing male experts, while the young man will be interviewing women. Because the woman reporter’s goal is to save on car rides, she will be speaking to a representative of a carpooling service (yes, because of the show’s structure, not gender inequality, that has to be a man.)
How a woman’s approach to savings is different from that of a man, Channel One didn’t elaborate. But the public wasn’t convinced either way, and the TV network's approach was met with criticism.
Генеральный директор BlaBlaCar Ирина Рейдер рассказала, что редактор программы «Доброе утро» на Первом канале отказался брать у нее комментарий для передачи, потому что она – женщина. Довольно неожиданно, что у Первого канала есть такие грани безумия, о которых мы ещё не знали
— Л. Баттерс Стотч (@L_Stotch) 25 апреля 2019 г.
BlaBlaCar’s CEO Irina Reyder said she was disinvited from the Good Morning show on Channel One by the editor when they found out she was a woman. It’s quite surprising that there are still aspects to Channel One’s madness we haven’t known about.
Despite the significant backlash that Channel One faced online, Russia still has a long way to go in terms of gender equality. Russia ranks 75th among 149 countries surveyed by the World Economic Forum's 2018 Global Gender Gap Report, scoring good points for equal access to healthcare and education for women, but lacking in legislation protecting their rights. Russian feminists and their supporters often use social media and satire to shine a light on sexist customs and practices.


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Cultural heritage and stray dogs under siege in Baku’s Formula 1 rerun · Global Voices
Arzu Geybullayeva

Screen grab of official promotion of Formula 1 Socar Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2019
Overlooking the Caspian Sea, the 2020 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix is run along the Baku City Circuit, giving fans a view of modern architecture as well as historic buildings around the industrial city of Baku. Immerse yourself in Formula 1 racing as well as the city of Baku with F1 Experiences Official Ticket Packages. Ticket packages include race tickets, access to the racing lifestyle with tours of the Paddock and track, an Exclusive Pit Lane Walk and more!
This is how the official Formula 1 Grand Prix website sells a race through Baku on April 28, which many in Azerbaijan's capital fear is already compromising one of the city's main attractions — its treasured Old Town.
This is the second year running that Baku has hosted an F1 race. Azerbaijan's authoritarian government views sporting events as excellent nation-branding opportunities after hosting Eurovision in 2012 and the European Games in 2015. Baku will also host the final of the Europa League, the second most prestigious European football tournament in football, on May 29.
But while F1 has billed the historic buildings in the heart of Baku as part of the draw for fans both local and foreign, Baku residents are already taking to social media to protest what appears to be clumsy renovation work in the Old Town.
One social media user Ibrahim Emre called for an end to Formula 1 in Baku:
Stop Formula 1! Together we must say no to hosting Formula 1 race [in Azerbaijan]. We should say no, because there is no health insurance, no sewage system, when it rains the whole city floods etc. Most importantly, millions of people live in poverty and are unemployed. Because they lack financial means, young people give up on their dreams, their future. By investing 150 million manats we could have free education. I mean, every year, we invest in Formula 1 but not in our education system? Why? Because these kind of events introduce our country to the world. A country should be known for its economy, education, army, health care, and not by these meaningless events.
Emre is just one of the scores of Baku residents who have taken to Facebook to express their concerns. Some even apologised to the Old Town.
Hi, Old Town, how are you? I know you are upset. The smoke from the grilled meets is suffocating you, while blinding us. We love flatbread more than we love you. We used to sit down by your walls. But now, to do that, we must enter some kind of construction [referring to restaurants that have sprung up along the walls of the old city]. We are suffocating you. Because we don't love you. Aqlay (construction stone) is more native to us. Qutab [stuffed flat lavash bread] is dearer. Kabab is loved more than your history. Because a stomach is dearer than a brother…With much respect, Tural Yusifov, a historian by training.
Below is a video recapping construction work in the city.
The youth branch of Azerbaijan's ruling party was quick to dismiss all reports that parts of the Old Town were being destroyed  by sharing the video below with the following headline: “To all those spreading false information about the demolition of the old walls inside the ‘Inner City’, here is an answer like a slap.”
The “slap” for critics that the video refers to is an interview with Rahib Azeri, who is head of the information service at the ‘Old City’ State Historical and Architectural reserve, a government organisation.
In the clip he reassures the reporter and viewers that work carried out inside the old city is part of renovation work involving restaurants and cafes. None of that work is damaging the walls themselves, he said.
Many find this explanation unconvincing. Artist Gunduz Aghayev shared this piece in response to the reports:
Gündüz Ağayev İçərişəhəri təsvir edir…
A post shared by  N!DA Vətəndaş Hərəkatı (@nidavh) on
The photo bellow meanwhile indicates the difference in stones used in the renovation work:
Azərbaycan hakimiyyətinin tarixə hörmətlə yanaşmadığı təzə xəbər deyil. İçərişəhərdə, Sovetskidə bir çox tarixi abidələr ya zədələnib, ya da tamamilə sökülüb. Four Seasons otelinin tikintisi zamanı aşkarlanmış orta əsrlərə aid tunel orada araşdırma aparmaq və onu qorumaq əvəzinə betonlanıb. Tarixi abidələr mərmər parklar, bahalı otellər və restoranlarla əvəzlənir. Aşağıdakı şəkildə İçərişəhərin qala divarlarının daşlarının əvəzlənməsini görmək mümkündür. Nədən ötrü? Yeni restoranlar tikmək, mövcud restoranları genişləndirməkdən ötrü. Tarixə olan münasibəti Azərbaycan hakimiyyətinin səviyyəsini göstərir. Tarixi tikililər hakimiyyət üçün heç bir məna daşımır, sadəcə köhnə daşlar və evlərdirlər. İçərişəhərdə və ölkənin digər yerlərində tarixi abidələrin, tikililərin zədələnməsi və sökülməsi dayandırmalıdır!
A post shared by  N!DA Vətəndaş Hərəkatı (@nidavh) on
Heritage is a big issue in Azerbaijan, where funnelling oil profits into construction is a far greater priority than looking after old buildings.
Popular rights defender Aslan Ismayilov shared the video below to highlight how Azerbaijan lags behind other countries in caring for its historical sites.
Along with the Old Town, stray dogs are under threat.
On April 16, a three-year-old was bitten by a stray dog in Baku, making strays a national issue again.
One lawmaker in the rubber stamp parliament called to kill all stray dogs, citing Soviet practices approvingly.
Animal rights activists who gathered outside the municipal building were quickly dispersed by the police.
Violence against street animals accompanied the build-up to the European Games in 2015, and even resulted in international media coverage. Now, history is repeating itself.
Not that history is much on the minds of F1 fans who have paid anything from 51.19 euros to 3,928.64 euros for their tickets.
The upper price secures a three-day “adventure” package, positioning viewers “right above the pits” and “with best views guaranteed.” The cost of the race for the city's Old Town may be even higher.

author: Arzu Geybullayeva


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Netizen Report: Saudi Arabian authorities arrest three bloggers and execute 37 prisoners, several of them protesters · Global Voices
Netizen Report Team

Image licensed to public domain, without attribution.
The Advox Netizen Report offers an international snapshot of challenges, victories, and emerging trends in technology and human rights around the world. This report covers news and events from April 20 – April 26.
In Saudi Arabia, 37 prisoners were executed by beheading on April 23. Most of those killed belonged to the Shia Muslim community, a minority in the kingdom. All were men.
According to Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, 14 of those executed were arrested after joining anti-government protests. Both groups say the men were forced to confess to “protest-related crimes” after being tortured, and that they later sought to retract their confessions in court, as they were given under duress. They were nevertheless sentenced to death.
Lynn Maalouf, who serves as Amnesty International’s Middle East research director, called the executions “another gruesome indication of how the death penalty is being used as a political tool to crush dissent from within the country’s Shi’a minority.”
Just a few days prior, three Saudi bloggers were arrested as part of an ongoing crackdown on journalists and activists that drew headlines in October 2018 with the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi embassy in Istanbul.
Authorities haven’t publicly stated why they’ve detained Naif al-Hindas, Ali al-Saffar and Redha al-Boori, who have not been active as writers for some time. In 2015, Al-Saffar and al-Boori had written about regional security issues, and Al-Hindas wrote about philosophy, feminism, and other cultural and political topics up until mid-2018.
As of December 1, 2018, there were at least 16 journalists in prison in Saudi Arabia. All told, these legal cases and executions demonstrate the extreme measures the Saudi government is willing to take in order to prevent criticism and legitimate media work in the kingdom.
Within hours of the bombings that killed hundreds of people at churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, authorities blocked major internet and mobile services including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, Viber, Snapchat and Facebook Messenger. Reactions to the move were mixed, with many expressing frustration with both the government and social media platforms, which have proven inept at controlling the spread of violent speech and disinformation in times of public emergency.
Leading digital rights advocate Wairagala Wakabi was detained at Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on April 25 when he flew to the country from his native Uganda to help lead a workshop on human rights and technology. Wakabi is the Executive Director of the Uganda-based Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA), one of the foremost organizations working on digital rights in Africa.
Wakabi was deported back to Uganda after several hours of interrogation, during which he was denied access to a lawyer. Attorneys from the Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition attempted to advocate on his behalf, but were told only that Wakabi was being deported on “national interest” grounds.
In a statement to CIPESA, they called upon members of the East African Community (EAC) “to condemn this tendency of disturbing citizens of EAC when travelling within the subregion.”
French police arrested journalist Gaspard Glanz while he was covering a Yellow Vests protest in Paris on April 20. Glanz founded the news agency Taranis News, which primarily covers protests and social movements online. Glanz spent 48 hours in detention before he was released and charged with “contempt of a person holding public authority” for giving the middle finger to a police officer. He was also banned from covering the protests, pending the start of his trial on October 18.
The UAE-based ride-hailing app Careem, which was recently acquired by Uber, has been sharing passengers’ full names and real phone numbers with drivers. Beirut-based digital rights group SMEX reports that this has led to drivers attempting to contact passengers through Facebook and other means, posing a threat to riders’ safety and privacy. On the SMEX blog, Abed Kataya wrote:
Careem….appears oblivious to the implications and risks of sharing users’ personal data, even going as far as to deny that a phone number constitutes personally identifiable information.
Law enforcement officials in Pakistan arrested seven people who they say were running an identity theft scheme in which they captured identity data — including people’s fingerprints — from unsuspecting individuals, and then used this information to obtain mobile SIM cards, which they then sold to people who used them to carry out criminal activities.
Pakistan made it compulsory for people to present biometric identity information (typically fingerprints) in order to purchase SIM cards in 2008, a move that authorities say brought a decrease in extortion, kidnapping and fraud by “deanonymizing” SIM cards.
On April 16, the European Parliament approved a policy directive that would require internet platforms to remove online posts deemed to be “terrorist content” within an hour of receiving an order from competent authorities. Lawmakers voted to delete provisions of the directive that would have required platforms to use automated “prior censorship” filters and to monitor the information they transmit and store, in order to detect and remove terrorist content. While human rights groups have welcomed the removal of these provisions, they remain concerned about the one-hour deadline.
In a statement, European Digital Rights (EDRi) and Access Now “welcomed” this improvement, but then emphasized their doubt that the proposal’s objectives could be achieved. In a statement, the groups said:
Across Europe, the inflation of counter-terror policies has had disproportionate impact on journalists, artists, human rights defenders, and innocent groups at risk of racism.
As of April 2019, people in the central African nation of Chad have been without internet access for a full year. Service providers attribute the disruption to technical problems, but organizations like Internet without Borders say that the government has ordered mobile phone companies to cut internet access, most likely owing to public discontent over the enduring reign of Chadian President Idriss Deby, who has been in office since 1990. In 2018, Deby moved to change Chad’s constitution so that he could retain office until 2033.
Afef Abrougui, Ellery Roberts Biddle, Nwachukwu Egbunike, L. Finch, Talal Raza and Taisa Sganzerla contributed to this report.


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Tanzanian authorities detain and deport Ugandan human rights leader · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

Wairagala Wakabi, a leading digital rights advocate from Uganda, was detained at Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on April 25.
Dr. Wairagala Wakabi [Image by CIPESA and used with permission]
Wakabi was invited to speak at the annual Tanzania Human Rights Defenders’ Day hosted by the Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition (THRDC). Wakabi is the Executive Director of the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA), one of the foremost organizations working on internet policy and online free speech in Africa.
Wakabi was deported back to Uganda after several hours of interrogation, during which he was denied access to a lawyer.
Attorneys from the Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition attempted to advocate on his behalf, but were told only that Wakabi was being deported on grounds of “national interest”:
UPDATE: After hours of interrogation, Dr. Wakabi has been deported back to #Uganda this evening. However, lawyers remained unable to establish the basis of the detention & deportation. They report that authorities denied him entry into #Tanzania on grounds of “national interest”. pic.twitter.com/FfEPJTMiz2
— CIPESA (@cipesaug) April 25, 2019
Though the ordeal lasted only a few hours, it brought great consternation among rights advocates in the region, who have grown wary of Tanzania's treatment of activists and journalists. In November last year, Angela Quintal and Muthoki Mumo both staff of Committee to Protect Journalists, were detained for several hours in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and had their passports temporarily seized.
Is Tanzania on a deliberate crusade to silence human rights defenders by harassing them in order to dissuade them from coming into the country? Late last year it was @pressfreedom‘s @angelaquintal and @muthokimumo not Dr Wakabi? This cannot silence us! #FreeDrWakabi
— Felicia Anthonio (@FelAnthonio) April 25, 2019
Human Rights Watch asserted that Tanzania under the leadership President John Magufuli has witnessed “a marked decline in respect for free expression, association and assembly.”
In 2015, the United Republic of Tanzania promulgated the Cybercrimes Act. Within a year of the passing of that law, at least 14 Tanzanians were arrested and prosecuted under the law for insulting the president on social media. March 2018 saw the passing of the Electronic and Postal Communications (Online Content) Regulations, making it mandatory for bloggers to register and pay roughly US $900 per year to publish online. This caused many independent blogs to go dark.
The stifling of independent media through a mixture of sanctions against media outlets and legal threats against journalists has created an atmosphere of intimidation, self-censorship and fear of expressing alternative views about the country’s leaders.
The detention and subsequent deportation of Wakabi back to Uganda appears to be a continuation of the Tanzania's government assault on free speech and dissent.

author: Nwachukwu Egbunike


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This Argentinian project documents street art from all over Latin America · Global Voices
Laura Vidal

Screenshot of the ACL's Instagram account.
Arte Callejero Latinoamérica (Street Art Latin America, or ACL) is an Argentina-based project that uses social media to support and document street art from all over Latin America.
According to their website, the project was born in the context of the 1998-2002 Argentine Great Depression, when unemployment reached 20 percent and riots and looting were widespread. The meltdown led four presidents to resign in a space of just ten days in 2001, and the government to make the biggest debt default in history. By 2003, poverty had risen from 26,7% in 1999 to 51,7%.
Arte Callejero began paying attention to visual, artistic responses to the crisis on the streets of Buenos Aires and to document them on a website. Over the years, it began organizing exhibitions as it also moved their dissemination efforts to social media platforms.
The project's founder is Ivan Andrada, an artist and cultural producer from Argentina. He's told Global Voices via Instagram DM that he has organized street art exhibitions in Chile and Mexico, and that he often travels around the region to promote ACL.
This year, ACL is celebrating 15 years of existence with a street art festival in Buenos Aires from April 24 to May 25. The festival will host exhibitions, debates, and documentary screenings with street artists and collectives from Latin America.
The project's Facebook page, Youtube, and Instagram archive are a treasure trove of street art in all its forms from the region. Their strongest presence is on Instagram, where they have close to 10,000 followers. Their account also republishes photos of murals shared by other Instagram users.
The banner below, photographed in Buenos Aires and reposted by ACL, shows an image of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. The caption reflects readers’ recent reckoning with the Nobel laureate's misogynist, even violent, past.
Repost de @stickerartec –  Visto en #Belgrano #BuenosAires Autor: @quehacesmapache . . #PabloNeruda #Neruda #DaddyYankee #StreetArt #ArteCallejero #artecallejerolatinoamerica #Pegatina #Calco #Urban #UrbanArt #ArteUrbano #Street #Sticker #StickerCulture #CulturaSticker
A post shared by  #FestivalACL2019 (@arte.callejero.latinoamerica) on
The image reads: “Tonight I can write the most misogynistic lines. Pablo Neruda, Ft [reggaeton singer] Daddy Yankee.” Seen in Belgrano, Buenos Aires.
Many of ALC's posts highlight visual work with strong political messages. This mural piece in São Paulo, Brazil, showing Facebook's co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, is an example:
Repost de @buenocaos –  Nem via Twitter.  Tio Zuck mandando a real nas ruas de São Paulo. Revolucionários de cartolina ✊ Zuckerberg is sending some messages in the streets of São Paulo: "Revolution will not be through Facebook, Instagram nor WhatsApp". Paperboard revolutionaries ? #streetart #urbanart #wheatpaste #pasteup #lambelambe #lambe #arteurbana #zuck #facebook #instagram #whatsapp #revolucionáriosdecartolina
A post shared by  #FestivalACL2019 (@arte.callejero.latinoamerica) on
Mural says: “The revolution will not happen via Facebook”
Caption says: “Nor via Twitter.”
Also in Brazil, this mural depicts the country's president Jair Bolsonaro:
repost de @ricardogelli –  Não ao racismo, a misoginia, ao sexismo, a homofobia, a xenofobia… não ao fascismo. Não ao terror. Viva a democracia! ♥ #elenão #elenunca #elejamais
A post shared by  #FestivalACL2019 (@arte.callejero.latinoamerica) on
Caption says: “No to racism, to misogyny, to sexism, to homophobia, to xenophobia… No to fascism. No to terror. Long live democracy!”
The following post is about the times of the Argentinian military dictatorship (1976-1983) when around 30,000 people were forcibly disappeared by the state and its collaborators.
repost de @dexpierte_colectivo –  43 años del golpe de Estado que inició la dictadura militar y con ella, una represión sistemática, inédita en la historia Argentina.  No olvidamos #Odiosuguerra #pasteup #sinolvido  D.E.X.P.I.E.R.T.E
A post shared by  #FestivalACL2019 (@arte.callejero.latinoamerica) on
Mural says: “76-16, 40 years, never again,” and “The same past, the same enemy, the same possibility: liberation”
Caption says: “43 years since the coup d'Etat that started the military dictatorship and with it, a systematic repression, unprecedented in the history of Argentina. We haven't forgotten.”
The banner above was made by Argentinian art collective Agra. They made it available online so other art collectives from the region could print it too. The one above was printed by Colombian art collective Dexpierte Colectivo and pinned to a wall in the country's capital Bogotá.
Another example of ALC's post comes from Mexico City with an image that reminds passers-by of the events of 1968, when police and parapolice killed hundreds in student protests:
repost de @emm_g.g –  #Memories #tlatelolco #tlatelolco68 #mexico
A post shared by  #FestivalACL2019 (@arte.callejero.latinoamerica) on

author: Laura Vidal


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#MySkirtMyRight: Women in Madagascar fight sexism and victim-shaming by the government · Global Voices
Rakotomalala

Screenshot from the TV5 Monde (national TV channel) coverage on the wave “My Skirt My Right” in Madagascar
Manpihena ny finan-dratsin'ireo lehilahy tia setrasetra ny fitaty tsotra sy maontina entin'ny ankizivavy. koa adidin'ny ny ray aman-dreny ny manoro sy manitsy ny zanany hanalavitra ny fitaty maneho fihantsiana sy mampitanjaka
Men's greedy needs to assault women reduce as women wear modest clothes. It is therefore every parent's duty to guide their daughters towards the right path and stop them from wearing revealing clothes and exposing themselves.
This is the message (since deleted) that was published on the Ministry of Education's Facebook page on April 12, 2019, as the Malagasy government urged women not to wear revealing clothes in order to avoid being sexually assaulted.
In response, many Malagasy women shared pictures of themselves on social media wearing skirts or dresses using the hashtag #MaJupeMonDroit (My Skirt My Right) to voice their outrage at this sexist request that essentially shames victims instead of sanctioning men's aggressive behavior. Below is a screenshot of Ministry of Education's original Facebook post in Malagasy, before it was taken down:
Screenshot of the Facebook post from the Ministry of Education on the 12th April, requesting women to avoid wearing revealing clothes.
The wave of protests rapidly spread online in Madagascar. The movement started on social media by the Malagasy NGO Nifin’Akanga, which is fighting to decriminalize abortion. On the same day of the Ministry's post, Nifin'Akanga responded quickly on Facebook, inviting the Malagasy online community to participate in an online campaign:
/// Jupe challenge/// ? PARTAGEZ !!
Prenez un selfie dans la tenue qui vous plaît: jupe, robe, etc. ?
Mettez le
#majupemondroit
Ma jupe, mon droit…
Sa braguette, son problème avec la loi.
Mon corps, mon droit
Mon utérus…pas ta décision !
/// Skirt challenge/// ? PLEASE SHARE !!
Take a selfie in an outfit that you like: skirt, dress, etc.?
Add the
#majupemondroit
My skirt, my right…
His zip, his problem with the law.
My body, my right
My uterus…not your decision!
They were joined by activists in the country and members of the Malagasy diaspora. Many activists also used the internationally-recognized hashtag #StopRapeCulture.
An editor in Madagascar's capital, Antananarivo, Soa Anina, listed on her blog 30 answers to 30 stereotypes of this movement. Here are a few of them:
Non, les « besoins sexuels des individus malfaisants » ne diminueront pas de cette manière, et certainement pas, s’ils reçoivent un soutien ministériel qui déplace le problème en accusant la victime, plutôt que le coupable. Non, ce n’est pas aux filles de gérer le comportement des hommes et des garçons : c’est aux hommes d’apprendre à se comporter honorablement, en toutes circonstances, et aux parents d’élever leurs garçons pour en faire des hommes. (..)  La vérité, c’est qu’aucun habit ne vous protège. Ce n’est pas le vêtement : le pervers réalise le crime, non parce qu’il est attiré par « le plaisir sexuel », mais parce qu’il tire son plaisir du rapport de pouvoir, de contrôle et de domination, sans aucun lien avec  le vêtement jugé « trop sexy ». Le mot malgache « fanolanana » décrit le viol avec exactitude : tordre jusqu’à ce que la résistance s’étiole.
No, the “sexual needs of predators” will not be kept under control this way, and certainly not if they benefit from the support of the Ministry. The government is only avoiding the issue by pointing the finger at the victim instead of the guilty abuser. No, it is not the responsibility of women to handle men's and boys’ behaviors: men have to learn to behave with dignity in all circumstances, and parents need to educate their boys to become men. (…) The truth is, no garment will ever protect you. It is not about the garment: the pervert perpetrates the crime not because of his libido, but because he gets his pleasure from power, control and domination, all unrelated to the clothing worn, even if deemed “too sexy”. The Malagasy word “fanolanana” is an accurate description of rape: bend it until its resistance weakens.
The protest storm continued and was amplified by the national newspapers and online publications. Nasolo Valiavo Andriamiahaja is an editor for the newspaper l'Express de Madagascar. He associates all types of restrictive policies on clothing to a regression of women's rights.  He recalls an anecdote from the King of Morocco during his temporary forced exile in Madagascar:
En 1956, raconte l’écrivain marocain Tahar ben Jelloun, le roi du Maroc Mohammed V à son retour d’Antsirabe où l’administration coloniale française l’avait envoyé en exil, n’avait pas hésité à montrer ses filles sans voile. «Entre la fin des années cinquante et le début des années quatre-vingt, les Marocaines avaient dans leur majorité abandonné le port du voile. Elles portaient la djellaba et gardaient la tête non couverte. C’est avec la révolution iranienne et les discours démagogiques de Khomeyni que le voile a refait son apparition» («Maroc : voilés, dévoilées, les femmes sèment le trouble», taharbenjelloun.org)
The Moroccan writer Tahar ben Jelloun shares that the king of Morocco Mohammed V did not hesitate to show off his daughters without the scarf, upon his return from Antsirabe (a province of Madagascar) in 1956, where the French colonial administration had exiled him. “Between the nineteen fifties and the start of the nineteen eighties, most Moroccan women had stopped wearing the scarf. They were wearing the djellaba and kept their head uncovered. It was the Iranian revolution and Khomeyni's demagogic speeches that brought the scarf back.”
Following this uproar, the Ministry of Education formally apologized in a press release, putting an end to the storm:
Official statement from the Ministry published on Facebook explaining the withdrawal of the action against sexual assaults.
But for a number of activists and journalists like Antananarivo-based Mbolatiana Raveloarimisa, the fight is not over:
Nombreux sont les commentaires qui, au lieu de soutenir l’indignation, cherchent encore à culpabiliser les femmes.  Le malheureux Ministère de l’éducation n’est qu’un élément déclencheur qui nous a fait découvrir une réalité toute autre. Dans la société Malgache, la violence faite aux femmes n’est que le bout d’un iceberg immense. L’administration toute entière n’est que la cristallisation d’un mutisme général.
A lot of comments were trying to shame women instead of supporting the movement. This sad incident is only the catalyst that opened our eyes to a hidden reality. In Malagasy society, violence against women is only the tip of a huge iceberg. The entire administration is only the crystallization of a national silence on violence against women.

author: Rakotomalala


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Benin sees internet blackout on election day · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

When they awoke on April 28, ready to cast their ballots in Benin's parliamentary election, voters could not rely on WhatsApp or Facebook to communicate with one another, or to seek information about where to vote.
ON / OFF Elevator switch. Photo by Andrew Huff. [Creative Commons (CC BY-NC 2.0)/ Flickr, January 20, 2007]
These and several other major web platforms, including Twitter, Instagram, Telegram and Viber, went dark in the early hours of the day. By 11 am, 99.5 percent of internet connections became inactive, sending the West African country into a nationwide internet shutdown that lasted well into the night.
Human rights groups and election monitors were dismayed but not shocked by the outage, which appears to have been orchestrated by the sitting government.
New electoral laws pushed by the incumbent administration of President Patrice Talon have re-oriented politics in Benin, which until this year had multiple political parties competing with one another. But under new policies that raise the threshold for party participation in elections, only two political parties made the cut to put up candidates for parliamentary election. Both parties are closely aligned with the president.
In the lead-up to the election, a series of public protests — which took place despite a blanket ban on street protests — were dispersed by law enforcement officials, who used tear gas and batons to break up demonstrations. Amnesty International reported that multiple political opposition leaders were arrested during demonstrations.
Open web activists at the Media Foundation for West Africa, Internet Sans Frontieres, CIPESA, Access Now, Global Voices (sub-Saharan Africa) and other groups condemned the shutdown in a joint statement:
The UN Human Rights Committee, the official interpreter of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, emphasizes in General Comment no. 34 that restrictions on speech online must be strictly necessary and proportionate to achieve a legitimate purpose. [7] Shutdowns, by contrast, disproportionately impact all users, and unnecessarily restrict access to information and emergency services communications during crucial moments. Shutdowns are neither necessary to, nor effective at, achieving a legitimate aim, as they often spread confusion and encourage more people to join public demonstrations.
We respectfully call on you to:
Speaking with Internet Sans Frontieres, Beninese writer and activist Mylène Flicka of Irawo media noted:
Shutting down the Internet on election day only adds suspicion to an already flawed electoral process. Benin is now performing very poorly in terms of democracy.
All internet connections had been restored as of the morning of April 29, at which point voting had concluded.


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Afghanistan’s dwindling Sikh and Hindu communities turn towards the exits · Global Voices
Farkhonda Tahery

Rollout of the “Survey of Afghan Hindus and Sikhs” by the Porsesh Research Organization in Kabul on March 6. Photo used with permission from PRO.
In Afghanistan, Sikh and Hindu minority groups have for decades experienced targeted religious persecution while suffering from low access to civil rights.
Given that these injustices have been compounded by the country's deep and growing security issues, it is hardly surprising that of the 220,000 Sikh and Hindu citizens living in Afghanistan in the 1980s, less than a thousand remain.
The Manmeet Bhullar Foundation is committed to enabling Afghan Sikhs and Hindus to achieve asylum in Canada.
They have asked the Canadian government to recognise Hindus and Sikhs of Afghanistan as particularly vulnerable minorities and develop an appropriate plan to evacuate them.
A deadly attack on prominent Sikh leaders in July 2018 added urgency to this bid.
The July 1 suicide bombing that killed 19 people and injured 10 as Sikh and Hindu representatives made their way to a meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was claimed by the Afghanistan's ISIS affiliate and sent tremors through the community.
Canada-based organisations, including the World Sikh Organization and Gurdwara communities have supported the asylum drive, claiming notable successes. The first Sikh and Hindu Afghan Refugee families arrived in Canada on March 13, 2019.
Health officials now say 17 of the 19 killed in Jalalabad explosion today were members of the Afghan Sikh and Hindu community. https://t.co/MJB9xho8bJ
— Mujib Mashal (@MujMash) July 1, 2018
It was heartwarming to welcome the first group of Afghan Sikh and Hindu families fleeing intolerance and persecution to their new home, and the new opportunities that await them with the support of the community. pic.twitter.com/hLAiwlSnEB
— Sukh Dhaliwal (@sukhdhaliwal) March 13, 2019
As an exit door potentially opens for Afghanistan's remaining Sikhs and Hindus, the publication in March of the “Survey of Afghan Hindus and Sikhs” conducted by the Porsesh Research and Studies Organization (PRSO), a non-profit based in Kabul feels pertinent.
The survey was conducted “to understand better the situation, and provide a clear picture of their [Afghan Hindus and Sikhs] living conditions” according to its authors.
Read the most recent & interesting survey report on @Afghan Hindus and Sikhs, released by PRSO yesterday. It highlights interesting and alarming facts about Afghan Hindus and Sikhs.
#PRSO#SurveyofAfghanHindusandSikhs#Porseshresearch https://t.co/mse4nf1i5D
— Ehsan Shayegan (@ShayeganEhsan) March 7, 2019
The survey focused on the security, political participation, economic situation, civil rights, national mood, migration, and integration situation of Hindu and Sikh communities in Afghanistan.
The survey found that “Hindus and Sikhs are considerably less optimistic about the direction of Afghanistan compared to the rest of Afghans.”
Insecurity, unemployment and poverty are the factors driving this pessimism. Children lack access to education. For women, one of the main problems is “not being able to freely go outside.”
Afghan Hindu and Sikh communities have always participated in Afghan society.
While more than 50 percent turned out to vote in the most recent national elections, only a third (34.38%) of respondents say they feel they can influence their local government’s decisions. This is considerably lower than the national average and is spurred partly, the survey's authors believe, by Sikhs and Hindus “poor representation in government administrations.”
Economically, “a quarter of the respondents reports having difficulty purchasing simple and basic food”, while others can only afford basic needs. Sikhs and Hindus invariably work in the private sector as smalltime traders and shop owners.
Regarding emigration “60.7% of survey respondents expressed desire to migrate if they were given opportunity.” The remainder cited their patriotism as a reason not to emigrate, a reminder of the roots these communities have put down in Afghanistan despite difficulties, and the emotional wrench of leaving.
At the heart of the two groups issues in the country is a systemic bias against non-Islamic religions written into the constitution, which the survey called “excessively dependent upon Islamic interpretations and (containing) many articles discriminatory towards Hindus and Sikhs.” Although both groups are free to worship, the constitution's recognition of the supremacy of Islamic law makes it difficult for Hindus and Sikhs to live publicly according to their faith.
This has ingrained in many a perception that the state's institutions exist to harass rather than protect them.
Sikhs and Hindus typically fear encountering the Afghan National Police more than others. More than a quarter of respondents have experienced some type of threats in the past, while a quarter also claimed to have been victims of land-grabbing or property seizure.
The survey concludes with recommendations to boost political and legal rights and access to education and employment for Sikhs and Hindus, while promoting diversity and pluralism in the country as a whole.
Ehsan Shayagan, Founder and CEO of PRSO expressed hope that the survey “will help in inclusion of Afghan Hindus and Sikhs in the peace and development process in Afghanistan.”
Sadly, it may be too late for that.

author: Farkhonda Tahery


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Jailed Emirati activist Ahmed Mansoor’s life is at risk, after six weeks on hunger strike · Global Voices
Gulf Center for Human Rights

Human rights activist Ahmed Mansoor is currently serving a ten-year jail sentence in the UAE. Photo Credit: Martin Ennals Foundation, via Citizen Lab.
This post was co-authored by Khalid Ibrahim, executive director of the Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR) and Joe Stork, chair of the GCHR advisory board.
Our friend Ahmed Mansoor, a courageous human rights defender and father of four children, is in solitary confinement in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), serving a 10-year sentence for the “crime” of speaking out publicly about violations of human rights in the UAE.
Ahmed, who serves on the advisory boards of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) and Human Rights Watch’s Middle East division, has been arrested and jailed in his country multiple times since 2011. His current ordeal began in March 2017, when he was arrested and later convicted of insulting the “status and prestige of the UAE and its symbols,” publishing “false reports” on social media.
Our friend is being held in an isolation ward in Abu Dhabi's Al-Sadr prison, where he has no bed to sleep on and no water in his cell. He is not allowed regular family visits or other rights and privileges accorded to other prisoners, such as regular telephone calls and access to books, newspapers, and TV. He is not allowed to walk outside or participate in sports. These are all standard affordances for prisoners convicted of violent crimes.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, and the UN Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners both consider prolonged solitary confinement to be a form of torture.
On 17 March, Ahmed began a hunger strike to protest poor prison conditions and his unfair conviction for his human rights activities. Since that time, his health has deteriorated significantly. His eyesight has begun to fail, as often happens to people who have endured a prolonged period without food (see the graphic below).
In March 2017, security forces raided Ahmed Mansoor's home in Ajman, where he lived with his wife Nadia and four young sons. Officers took him away, along with his mobile phones, laptops and other electronic equipment belonging to him and his family. The official UAE news agency reported that he was detained for using social media to publish “flawed information” and “false news” to “harm the reputation of the state.” The government refused to disclose his whereabouts, or allow him access to his lawyer or family.
More than a year later, on 30 May 2018, the Abu Dhabi daily newspaper The National reported that the State Security Chamber of the Federal Appeal Court had convicted Mansoor of insulting the “status and prestige of the UAE and its symbols,” publishing “false reports” on social media, and “seeking to damage the relationship of the UAE with its neighbours.”  The court sentenced him to 10 years in prison and fined him one million Emirati dirhams (US $270,000).
The entire trial was closed to media, diplomats and other outside observers. The charges and the conviction manifestly violate Mansoor’s right to free expression and opinion under international law. His conviction and sentence were upheld on 31 December 2018 by the Federal Supreme Court.
Mansoor began his work in defense of human rights in 2006 and since 2011 has been no stranger to incessant government harassment and persecution.
In April 2011, he was imprisoned with four other human rights defenders — the UAE 5 — for more than seven months after signing a petition addressed to the president of the UAE, in which they called for empowering the legislature and extending voting rights to all adult UAE citizens in elections for the Federal National Council. He and the other defendants were convicted of insulting the UAE’s rulers and jailed, but Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE president, pardoned them the following day. Since that time, authorities have refused to return Mansoor’s passport, effectively denying him the right to travel.
In September 2012, Mansoor was physically attacked by an individual at Ajman University, hours after he participated by video in an event at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Mansoor sustained injuries to his head, neck and hands. This attack came six days after he was physically assaulted by another individual also at Ajman University. Mansoor, who suspected that the attacks were orchestrated by state security, complained to the police on both occasions, to no avail.
Mansoor also has been subject to surveillance and spyware attacks. In 2014, his Twitter account was hacked. In August 2016, he received anonymous text messages urging him to click on an attachment that purported to include information about detainees whom UAE security services had subjected to torture. The Toronto-based Citizen Lab examined the messages and determined the attachment was spyware intended to hack, access and control his iPhone.
He also has been the target of harassment and death threats on social media. These have coincided with  smear campaigns in Emirati media.
On 6 October 2015, Mansoor was named the winner of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders of 2015 for being “one of the few voices within the UAE who provides a credible independent assessment of human rights developments in the country.” However, he was prevented from attending the ceremony due to the de facto travel ban imposed on him since 2011.
The European Parliament, UN Special Rapporteurs, and human rights organisations have all called for Ahmed's immediate and unconditional release.
Under UAE law, prisoners sometimes can apply for an early release after serving two-thirds of their sentences. Human rights groups, however, fear that Ahmed will have to serve the full 10-year sentence, if not more. There is also concern that he will be kept in unlawful detention after serving his sentence, as with others such as Osama Hussein Al-Najjar, a young blogger arrested for protesting the sentencing of his father. And once released, our colleague will also be placed “under surveillance” for three years.
Ahmed Mansoor’s life is at risk as a result of the terrible conditions of his imprisonment, which compelled him to undertake a hunger strike in March. We call on international mechanisms including the UN system to intervene urgently to ensure that the UAE government release Ahmed Mansoor and allow him to seek medical treatment without any delay.
Along with a dozen other human rights groups, we urge readers to support Ahmed Mansoor by joining our campaign for his release, by posting messages of support on a Facebook page created by his friends and on Twitter under the hash tag #FreeAhmed.
Learn about the physiological effects of a hunger strike with the infographic below, created by our partners at Visualizing Impact.

author: Gulf Center for Human Rights