Reuters: Kenyan museum, Mau Mau fighter shed light on British colonial abuses. “The camps, where tens of thousands are thought to have died, are a traumatic but largely forgotten part of Kenya’s past. They were set up to jail activists and sympathisers during the Mau Mau uprising of 1952-1960, in which [Gitu Wa] Kahengeri, born in the 1920s and a Secretary General of the independence movement’s Veterans Association, participated. Using eye-witness accounts, documents and field visits, Kenyan and British historians from the Museum of British Colonialism are now building an online archive of the period, complete with 3D recreations of some of the camps.”
human rights
Michigan State University: Social Scientists Awarded National Parks Service Grant
Michigan State University: Social Scientists Awarded National Parks Service Grant. “This grant will be used to develop The Internment Archaeology Digital Archive, an open digital archive that will host, preserve and provide broad public access to digitized collections of archaeological materials, archival documents, oral histories and ephemera that speak to the experiences of Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II in the United States.”
Military .com: Little-Known Archives Discreetly Testify to Europe’s Wars
Military .com: Little-Known Archives Discreetly Testify to Europe’s Wars. “They are gathering dust on shelves, but could make war criminals tremble: the archives of the OSCE [Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe], an international organization addressing security-related concerns, are increasingly becoming a source for those who seek to prove abuses committed during conflicts in Europe.”
National Accord Newspaper: Ethiopia experiences Internet blackout after musician Haacaaluu shot dead
National Accord Newspaper: Ethiopia experiences Internet blackout after musician Haacaaluu shot dead. “A blanket shutdown of the Internet in Ethiopia is being reported by Access Now, an organisation defending the digital rights of users at risk around the world. This came hours after prominent and outspoken Oromo musician Haacaaluu Hundeessaa was shot dead in Addis Abeba, the country’s capital. There have also been reports – via social media – of people taking to the streets demanding justice.”
NPR: Parts Of Myanmar Unaware Of COVID-19 Due To Internet Ban, Rights Advocates Say
NPR: Parts Of Myanmar Unaware Of COVID-19 Due To Internet Ban, Rights Advocates Say. “An Internet shutdown that began a year ago in parts of Myanmar is keeping some villages unaware of the coronavirus pandemic, humanitarian groups say. Restrictions on mobile Internet were put in place in eight townships in the state of Rakhine – and one in nearby Chin state — in June of last year amid fighting between the country’s military and an ethnic minority, the Rakhine, and their Arakan Army.”
MIT Technology Review: Human rights activists want to use AI to help prove war crimes in court
MIT Technology Review: Human rights activists want to use AI to help prove war crimes in court. “The initiative, led by Swansea University in the UK along with a number of human rights groups, is part of an ongoing effort to monitor the alleged war crimes happening in Yemen and create greater legal accountability around them. In 2017, the platform Yemeni Archive began compiling a database of videos and photos documenting the abuses. Content was gathered from thousands of sources—including submissions from journalists and civilians, as well as open-source videos from social-media platforms like YouTube and Facebook—and preserved on a blockchain so they couldn’t be tampered with undetected.”
The Register: Internet blackout of Myanmar States that are home to ethnic minorities enters second year
The Register: Internet blackout of Myanmar States that are home to ethnic minorities enters second year. “The internet blackout in towns in two states of Myanmar (Burma) has entered a second year. Myanmar’s government imposed the blackouts in Rakhine State and Chin State on June 21st, 2019, citing security concerns as justification.”
ProPublica: The Prison Was Built to Hold 1,500 Inmates. It Had Over 2,000 Coronavirus Cases.
ProPublica: The Prison Was Built to Hold 1,500 Inmates. It Had Over 2,000 Coronavirus Cases.. “Nationwide, Marion [Correctional Institution] ranked as the largest recorded coronavirus outbreak of any U.S. institution in a New York Times analysis. Three other prisons, including another packed one in Scotia Township, Ohio, were in the top five. The fifth is the Smithfield pork processing plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
NBC News: Detained migrants say they were forced to clean COVID-infected ICE facility
NBC News: Detained migrants say they were forced to clean COVID-infected ICE facility. “Asylum-seeking migrants locked up inside an Arizona Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center with one of the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases say they were forced to clean the facility and are ‘begging’ for protection from the virus, according to a letter obtained exclusively by NBC News.”
Council of Europe: No Hate Speech Training Course goes online
Council of Europe: No Hate Speech Training Course goes online. “The course gathers some 40 multipliers active with young people on combating hate speech, experts working on standards on fighting discrimination and hate speech, and activists using human rights education and counter-narratives for awareness-raising against hate speech. The participants represent various stakeholders in society, notably youth movements, educational organisations, local authorities, equality bodies/ ombuds-offices, and Human Rights NGO’s.”
Washington Post: Prince George’s jail officials acted with ‘reckless disregard’ to coronavirus outbreak, judge finds
Washington Post: Prince George’s jail officials acted with ‘reckless disregard’ to coronavirus outbreak, judge finds . “Finding that jail officials in Prince George’s County acted with ‘reckless disregard’ of a coronavirus outbreak among inmates last month, a federal judge on Thursday ordered the county’s jail to submit plans to ensure proper testing, improve health care and properly protect medically vulnerable inmates. ‘Sick calls ignored, temperature checks inaccurate, and nurses telling symptomatic detainees, “If you can walk, then you are OK,” ’ U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis wrote in a 33-page opinion, ticking off what she described as troubling procedures in the jail at the height of the outbreak.”
The Diplomat: Pakistan’s Government and Military Are Crushing Dissent on Social Media
The Diplomat: Pakistan’s Government and Military Are Crushing Dissent on Social Media. “Even before the new rules, the digital situation in Pakistan was already quite authoritarian. That can easily be conveyed by the ranking given to Pakistan in the Freedom on the Net report compiled annually by Freedom House. For many years, the country has been ranked among the worst countries of the world on that index; Pakistan was among the 10 worst countries of the 65 surveyed in the 2019 Freedom on the Net report.”
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies: 70 printed issues of Rowaq Arabi now available online
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies: 70 printed issues of Rowaq Arabi now available online. “The Rowaq Arabi journal, as a platform for rights advocates and researchers, seeks to understand the political, social, economic, cultural, and historical contexts, as well as international and regional factors, that influence respect for human rights. The journal offers in-depth discussions and analyses of human rights policies and developments in the Middle East and North Africa, utilizing approaches drawn from the social sciences, humanities, and law. It is also a space for the discussion of new developments related to international and regional instruments for the protection of human rights.”
University of Nottingham: Major new database reveals slavery is still not illegal in half the world’s countries
University of Nottingham: Major new database reveals slavery is still not illegal in half the world’s countries. “A new global review of antislavery legislation has busted a popular misconception that slavery is now illegal in every country in the world. The Antislavery in Domestic Legislation Database has been compiled over the past five years and is launched today at the United Nations headquarters by the University of Nottingham’s Rights Lab in partnership with the Castan Centre for Human Rights (Monash University, Australia).”
The Guardian: Internet to be partially restored in Kashmir but social media ban stays
The Guardian: Internet to be partially restored in Kashmir but social media ban stays. “Internet is to be partially restored in Kashmir after an unprecedented five-month blackout, but only for institutions providing ‘essential services’, while social media sites will still be banned.”
