Democracy

June 18, 2007 -- According to a new survey, “Iraq has emerged as the world’s second most unstable country, behind Sudan, more than four years after President George W. Bush ordered the U.S. invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.” In fact, Iraq, which ranked fourth last year, “suffered a third straight year of deterioration in 2006 with diminished results across a range of social, economic, political and military indicators.”

Iraq now ranked second among world’s failed states
Reuters
David Morgan    » read more »

June 4, 2007 -- Washington, DC - Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Russ Feingold announced today that they have introduced legislation, along with their colleague Senator Richard Lugar, to address ongoing human rights concerns in Zimbabwe. As Zimbabwe approaches national elections in 2008, the “Support for Democracy and Human Rights in Zimbabwe Act of 2007” seeks to assist Zimbabweans in their efforts to promote democracy and human rights in their country, despite years spent under a repressive and violent government.    » read more »

New study calls for monitoring campaign and party financing

June 3, 2007 -- Berlin / Panama City – Political party and election campaign financing is a murky field in eight Latin American countries, according to a study released today by Transparency International (TI) and The Carter Center.    » read more »

04 June 2007 -- A U.S. military judge has dismissed charges against a detainee at the Guantanamo detention center, based on a technical issue that could affect all the current and potential charges against detainees. The Defense Department says the prosecutor will appeal the ruling. VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon.

The military judge, U.S. Army Colonel Peter Brownback, ruled Monday during a hearing at Guantanamo that charges against Canadian Omar Khadr are invalid. Khadr is charged with murder and other crimes related to the death of a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan in 2002.    » read more »

29 May 2007 -- Ralph Nader grew up in a small town in Connecticut talking politics at the dinner table and at his father's diner. "It was the ultimate expression of free speech," he says. "No matter what political view anyone had they never got a stern look from my father because he liked dissent."

Nader says his father would pound the counter with the challenge for his customers to spend more time improving the country.

Nader says his parents' taught him how to listen and to think critically. Those family values led him to become a lawyer and, he says, to fight injustice.    » read more »

28 May 2007 -- Venezuela's replacement of a popular opposition television station with a new state-backed network drew fierce criticism that President Hugo Chavez is curtailing democratic freedoms. Demonstrators, including university students, gathered at several locations in Caracas Monday after Radio Caracas Television ceased broadcasting and was replaced with a new state-funded channel. Venezuelan security forces have fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters. Injuries were reported. In Caracas, VOA's Brian Wagner reports angry crowds protested across the capital Monday.    » read more »

May 7, 2007 -- Countries that care about upholding human rights should present themselves as candidates for the upcoming May 17 elections to the UN Human Rights Council, Freedom House said today at an event highlighting the first anniversary of the Council. Together with UN Watch, the organization released a joint evaluation of the current candidates for the Council, and emphasized that it is critical that democratic countries not elect human rights violators for membership.    » read more »

4 May 2007 -- The Carter Center is reinvigorating its presence in the Palestinian Territories in support of peace for Israel, justice for the Palestinians, and the emergence of a viable, democratic Palestinian state.    » read more »

Earlier in April, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit proposing new restrictions on counsel for Guantanamo detainees contesting decisions by Combatant Status Review Tribunals that they are properly detained as enemy combatants.    » read more »

May 2, 2007 -- Overall press freedom in much of sub-Saharan Africa declined in 2006, particularly in the Horn of Africa as well as East Africa, according to Freedom of the Press 2007, released today by Freedom House. However, there were noticeable improvements in the legal environment for the media in a number of other countries.    » read more »

02 May 2007 -- Ethiopia tops a list of countries where press freedom has deteriorated over the last five years, the Committee to Protect Journalists reports. The U.S.-based media advocacy group says the Ethiopian government has jailed 18 journalists and shut down eight newspapers in its recent crackdown on the press. Katy Migiro in Nairobi has more on the report for VOA.    » read more »