Mensenrechten

Video

MO*conference @ Forward Fest: Development in a New Geopolitical Context

These are times in which international relations are being transformed at breakneck speed and in which the existing world order is being questioned fundamentally. Will these turbulent times enable us to bring about sustainable development and a just redustribution of wealth? Is this finally the right time to decolonize, are we heading into the ...
Interview

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

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, ...
© Reuters
Analysis

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

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.
Mídia NINJA (CC BY-NC 2.0)
Analysis

Under Bolsonaro healthcare is a form of violence

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 ...
(c) Rappler
Interview

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

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

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

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.
© Ruth Govaerts
Interview

New dilemmas and new directions in South Africa after apartheid

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

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.
CC Bruno Deceukelier
Blog Post

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

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
© Frauke Decoodt
Report

Surviving violence and Ortega in Nicaragua

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.
CC Gie Goris (CC BY-NC 2.0)
Essay

Asma Jahangir: A phenomenon of engaged resistance

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.

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