Full Coverage: Democracy

30.06.2005 Dans le cadre de la XXXVe Assemblée générale de l’Organisation des États américains (OEA), qui a commencé aujourd’hui à Ft. Lauderdale, aux États-Unis, la Coalition internationale des organisations pour les droits humains dans les Amériques a adressé aux pays membres de l’OEA une série de recommandations sur des questions prioritaires touchant les droits humains. Dans la déclaration qu’elle a émise, la Coalition a signalé que la faiblesse des institutions démocratiques ainsi que l’exclusion et les inégalités sociales contribuent grandement à la fragilité de la démocratie dans les Amériques.

29.06.2005 "Real news is the news you and I need to keep our freedoms," correspondent and historian Richard Reeves once told a student. Public broadcasting's number one news anchor, Bill Moyers, stands up to those who, with metallic flags on their lapels, are attempting to muzzle the few in American society who are reporting the news rather than the spin.

27.06.2005 A Congressional vote on CAFTA is likely this week. Don't let the mistakes we've learned from NAFTA be repeated with CAFTA, says Global Exchange, offering eight easy ways you can declare independence from trade agreements that profit corporations and marginalize working families.

27.06.2005 Tehran mayor and president-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed Sunday to spread Iran's oil money to the poor, end corruption, return to the roots of the 1979 Islamic revolution, and push Iran's nuclear-energy plans. He's been called Iran's Robin Hood by some, but critics portend a Talibanesque regime now that hard-line conservatives hold power throughout the government.

24.06.2005 The PATRIOT Act became law a month after 9/11, giving the government sweeping surveillance powers and largely disregarding many civil liberties previously taken for granted. Repeatedly challenged as unconstitutional, several provisions are set to expire this year, but Congress may reauthorize and even expand the PATRIOT Act.

24.06.2005 Wangari Maathai, founder of the famous Greenbelt Movement and African Nobel Laureate, lay her wisdom upon the U.S. NGO community recently. "Unless we manage resources more equitably, we won’t have peace. To do that there has to be democratic space," she told a Washington, D.C. gathering.

24.06.2005 WASHINGTON, D.C., Jun 24 (OneWorld) - Wangari Muta Maathai, 2004's Nobel Peace Prize winner and the first African woman bestowed the prestigious award, told representatives from non-governmental organizations here recently that a stronger commitment to environmental conservation can help build peace and greater prosperity in Africa.

23.06.2005 Organisée par Solidarité sans frontières, un réseau montréalais de comités autonomes de migrant-es, de réfugié-es, d’immigrant-es et d'allié-es, la marche Personne n'est illégal! sur Ottawa a lieu du du 19 au 25 juin 2005.

22.06.2005 Despite reports detailing how Uzbek troops killed hundreds of unarmed civilians in the city of Andijan, the U.S. blocked NATO's call for an investigation into the massacre. This latest move is yet another reminder of the insincerity behind the Administration's claims of supporting democracy in the Islamic world and former Soviet Union, says professor and author Stephen Zunes.

20.06.2005 Les membres de l'IFEX attirent l'attention sur le Code pénal algérien, que les autorités invoquent pour incarcérer les journalistes qui couvrent d'un ?il critique le gouvernement et les forces armées. Au cours de la dernière semaine, au moins quatre d'entre eux ont été reconnus coupables de diffamation pénale et trois se sont vu infliger des peines d'emprisonnement. Il y a encore des centaines d'autres affaires pendantes contre les journalistes.

17.06.2005 The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, ODIHR, has published the final report of its Election Observation Mission to the 2005 Municipal Elections in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

17.06.2005 14 past winners of the Nobel Peace Prize have expressed their solidarity with fellow laureate Aung San Suu Kyi whose 60th birthday is on Sunday. Their message to the people of Burma is that democracy will prevail but only with stronger resolve of the international community in general and ASEAN countries in particular.

17.06.2005 At a Baghdad conference this week, over 200 Iraqi journalists demanded greater press freedom in the war-torn country. Working under dangerous conditions, Iraqi and foreign journalists shared their experiences, including being targeted by both insurgents and Coalition forces.

17.06.2005 Iran's presidential elections begin Friday, and with more candidates than ever, a quick win by early frontrunner Rafsanjani is far from a sure bet. Although the elections have faced domestic setbacks and international criticism, the main issue now is voter turn-out: if turn-out is high, the regime will see it as proof of their continued legitimacy at home.

16.06.2005 Alfred Moisiu, the President of Albania, appealed today to all political parties actively Campaigning for the forthcoming Parliamentary Elections, scheduled for July 3, 2005, to observe the obligations from the Code of Campaign Conduct they signed last month (May 2005).

16.06.2005 A group of 24 journalism students from across Bosnia-Herzegovina were the first to participate in the seminar entitled "Reporting from the BiH State Parliamentary Assembly". This seminar involved a series of lectures regarding ethics and self-regulation in journalism and specifically, the practice of reporting from a parliamentary press gallery.

15.06.2005 President Putin told Tony Blair that the G8 should consider countries of the former Soviet Union just as much in need as Africa. Unconcerned for diplomatic niceties, Kazakstan is introducing laws to curtail foreign NGOs, apparently convinced that recent revolutions in Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine were financed by global pro-democracy organisations.

15.06.2005 It looks increasingly likely that Senators Frist and McCain will force the Senate to vote on John Bolton's nomination this week even though the White House continues to withhold information about his qualifications. CODEPINK--the women's peace organization--asks you to keep up the pressure against his nomination and contact your Senator today.

13.06.2005 Grassroots politics met an unexpected success last week when Dr. László Sólyom was elected Hungary's new president; a committed environmentalist, Sólyom's nomination was originally intended to be symbolic. The campaign grew from political disenchantment, and progress had been thought impossible by many as political parties seemed interested in keeping the population divided along ideological lines.

12.06.2005 Ethiopia is one of the 18 countries that will qualify for debt cancellation under the proposed G8 agreement. But its recent election has been a shambles as apparent gains for the opposition party are being suppressed. Amnesty is concerned about the fate of students arrested during demonstrations.