Mensenrechten

Interview

We cannot address inequality, migration, climate crisis or pandemic without international order

15 September 2020 -

International cooperation has a bad name because its results have often left much to be desired. But without a United Nations, climate summit or other international agreements, chaos and conflict loom. MO* put five crucial questions about world order and disorder to five internationally recognized experts. Is global governance still what we whant, ...

Analysis

Zimbabwe deposed a dictator, but could not eliminate corruption. Time for a second chance?

8 September 2020 -

Despite promises to improve the human rights situation in Zimbabwe, president Emmerson Mnangagwa's country continues to excel in repression of peaceful protest and freedom of speech. Three years after the expulsion of dictator Robert Mugabe Zimbabwe seems to be back at square one.

Analysis

Under Bolsonaro healthcare is a form of violence

4 September 2020 -

On Sunday the 9th of august, activists all over the world demanded attention for the precarious living conditions of indigenous peoples in Brazil’s Amazon forest. The 'Indigenous Emergency Action’ demanded attention for deforestation, which has increased by 98% since Bolsonaro took office, and for the ways in which the COVID-19 pande ...

Interview

Maria Ressa: "Courts are being used by Duterte's regime in a lawfare against free media"

16 June 2020 -

The clash between media and power is brutal in the Philippines. The real target is free speech, but the symbolic head that has to hang belongs to Maria Ressa, journalist, entrepreneur and initiator of the successful newssite Rappler. MO* had an exclusive interview with her when the coronacrisis began. The verdict in one of the court cases against h ...

Report

Under the Silence and the Scars: a Kashmir that Will Not Forget or Forgive

8 November 2019 -

Three months after BJP-led government of India stripped Jammu and Kashmir from its special status, the silence from the Valley is deafening, and cracking. Khalid Hussein reports for MO* from the worst hit villages in Kashmir about the cries and the whispers, the gathering storm, the wounds that will not heal.

Analysis

Asia Bibi and Pakistan´s Great Win Against Bigotry

11 February 2019 -

After spending eight years of solitary confinement in an 8f x 10f death cell, Asia Bibi (51) has been declared innocent. She was released from jail after a three-member Supreme Court bench cleared her of all the charges of blasphemy on October 31, 2018 and a review petition was categorically dismissed on January 29, 2019.

Interview

New dilemmas and new directions in South Africa after apartheid

8 November 2018 -

On October 3th 2016, Sachs, who collects honorary doctorates and other titles as if they were panini stickers, visited Ghent University for the third Mandela lecture organised by the Africa Platform of the Ghent University Association, and moderated by Prof. Eva Brems. This interview was conducted on that occasion.

Report

Kris Berwouts: Four days in the hands of Congo’s insecurity services

19 October 2018 -

Although being expelled from Congo in 2017, Kris Berwouts was able to receive a visum for the DRC one year later. On arrival in Congo however, he was immediately stopped by the authorities. This is what happened.

Blog Post

When civil society speak, will leaders from Asia and Europe listen?

16 October 2018 -

Mid October leaders of states from Asia and Europe will meet in Brussels, as part of the Asia Europe summit which happens every two years. In its wake, civil society meet at the Asia Europe People’s Forum, as do business representatives and other lobbying groups

Report

Surviving violence and Ortega in Nicaragua

2 August 2018 -

These are the stories of a mother whose son was killed by snipers, of a doctor saving lives on the barricades and of an ex-Sandinista combatant. Their stories tell us of the violence that shaked their lives, and about their many reasons to protest.

Essay

Asma Jahangir: A phenomenon of engaged resistance

27 March 2018 -

The Pakistani diaspora and friends of Asma Jahangir gathered in Brusels, at the Asia Platform, on March 26th, to reflect on the live, the struggles and the continued importance of Asma Jahangir. Ceciel Shiraz Raj worked for years with Asma. We publish his impassioned, personal and very relevant introduction.

Report

The Putin Generation: blind birds or future leaders?

14 March 2018 -

In their lives, these youngsters saw no other state leader besides Vladimir Putin. These are their life stories of poverty and exclusion. They are products of Russia’s turbulent past, and while they are powerless to shape Russian politics in 2018, they could grow into a force capable of shaping Russia’s future by 2024. ‘The real r ...