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La NO violencia no es la simple ausencia de violencia.
La NO violencia es tener la oportunidad de hacer daño y abstenerse de hacerlo.
Es el reflejo del amor y la compasión humanas; es tan inseparable como la bondad de la compasión.
SS El Dalai Lama
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La violencia es el miedo a los ideales de los demás.
Mahatma Ghandi
2008 Religious Freedom
2008 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom
Oct.7 (DP.net).- US Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, introduced to the public on September 19, this Annual Report covering the 12 months ended on 20 June 2008. This report has been issued annually for 10 years since the US Congress approved the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998. The report is now available to the public on the Internet >>HERE and institutions may get free hard copies if requested.
This work supplements the most recent Human Rights Reports by providing additional detailed information with respect to matters involving international religious freedom. It includes individual country chapters on the status of religious freedom worldwide. According to the Report, the IRF Act requires «the designation of countries that have "engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom" during the reporting period».
Following its precise guidelines, the Report has designated Burma, China, North Korea, Iran, Sudan, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, and Uzbekistan as "Countries of Particular Concern". In addition, "countries where religious freedom is of significant concern" include Afghanistan, Algeria, Cuba, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia, Sri Lanka, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Venezuela and Vietnam.
Abogado cubano agradece premio de derechos humanos
La Habana (AFP), May 14.- El abogado disidente cubano René Gómez Manzano agradeció ayer el premio de derechos humanos ''Ludovic-Trarieux'', que le acaban de otorgar en Francia, y lo consideró ''un acicate'' para seguir luchando ''en pro del establecimiento del Estado de derecho'' en la isla.
''Estoy muy agradecido, es un estímulo, un reconocimiento y al mismo tiempo un acicate para continuar en la lucha en pro del establecimiento del Estado de derecho en Cuba'', declaró a la AFP Gómez Manzano, de 63 años, y miembro del ejecutivo de la ilegal pero tolerada Asamblea para Promover la Sociedad Civil (APSC).
'El premio es un reconocimiento a todo el trabajo que hacen los abogados independientes en Cuba, incluida la `Corriente Agramontista' que me honro en presidir'', añadió Gómez Manzano, quien fue galardonado el sábado con el premio ''Ludovic-Trarieux 2007'' por su compromiso en favor del Estado de derecho en Cuba.
El abogado disidente mostró interés en viajar a Francia para recoger el premio, que entrega desde 1985 el Instituto de Derechos Humanos del Colegio de Abogados de Burdeos (IDHBB).
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Gómez Manzano fue distinguido en 1997 con el premio de derechos humanos de la American Bar Association, una entidad que agrupa a los abogados de Estados Unidos, y recibió en el 2000 el ''Félix Varela'' que entrega la Sociedad Cubano-Española de Derecho. ...
'Pro-democracy' human rights lawyers jailed in Vietnam
May 11.- A court in Vietnam sentenced two human rights lawyers to up to five years in prison today, bringing to five the number of activists convicted this week in the country's latest crackdown on dissent.
Nguyen Van Dai was sentenced to five years and Le Thi Cong Nhan to four years for advocating a multiparty state in Vietnam, where the ruling communist party does not tolerate challenges to its rule.
Dai must also serve four years of probation after his release from jail. Nhan must serve three years probation.
Prosecutors said Dai, 38, and Nhan, 28, had violated article 88 of Vietnam's criminal code, which broadly prohibits spreading propaganda against the government.
During the four-hour trial in the Hanoi People's Court, prosecutors said Dai and Nhan had collaborated with overseas pro-democracy advocates and used the internet to advance their views.
They also accused the defendants of working with Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly, a dissident Catholic priest who was sentenced to eight years in prison in March. ...
Commission on International Religious Freedoms names 11 violators
Eight more countries are included in a Watch List of
violators
May2.- The U.S. Commission on
International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today announced its 2007
recommendations ... for CPC ["countries of
particular concern"] designation: Burma, Democratic
People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), Eritrea,
Iran, Pakistan, China,
Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.
The Commission has also established a Watch List of countries where
conditions do not rise to the statutory level requiring CPC designation but
which require close monitoring due to the nature and extent of violations of
religious freedom engaged in or tolerated by the governments. Iraq has been added to the
Commission's Watch List this year, joining Afghanistan,
Bangladesh, Belarus, Cuba,
Egypt, Indonesia, and Nigeria.
Today the Commission is also releasing its 2007 Annual Report [which]
may be found on the Commission's web site at www.uscirf.gov
...
GENOCIDE IN DARFOUR MUST STOP!
The fighting in Darfour, Sudan, continues. But it is a lopsided or even a one-sided fighting. It has claimed more than 200,000 lives so far, most of them civilians.
Nearly 2 million people have been forcefully displaced from their homes and some 220,000 have fled into neighboring Chad to escape the Janjaweed militias supported by the government with mostly Chinese weapons and some other military supplies from Arab countries. These marauding "militias" come in the night to kill, rape and terrorize. But even the refugees who have managed to escape into Chad are still in grave danger.
They all urgently need food and medical care. Nearly 60% of these innocent victims are children. Clean water supplies are low and people are going thirsty. Thousands of women and girls have been victims of sexual-based violence.
The former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, said during the last days of his mandate that there is a "frighteningly real possibility" of genocide. His view was unrealistic. Genocide has been and is being committed for more than two years now with total impunity. If fact, the United States Congress issued a declaration that stated that genocide is more than a possibility; it is a reality. And "it is happening right now".
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is the only official United Nations agency with the mandate to care for and protect these refugees. Other private agencies, such as Oxfam, are doing what is barely possible.
They have no military support, other than a few thousand African Union troops poorly armed and lacking serious logistic support. UN forward missions destined to deploy a peacekeeping force have been rejected by the Sudan Government and China has repeatedly vetoed any kind of strong resolution presented before the Security Council that could include a clear mandate under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.
Donations to humanitarian agencies are urgently needed. But international intervention to stop genocide is paramount. All of us, human beings, have a stake in solving this problem. We cannot turn our backs with impunity to such atrocities! We must act quickly and decisively to end this genocide before hundreds of thousands more people are killed.
Elaborated by members of the Staff of DemocraciaParticipativa.net
What Cubans cannot do under Castro's brothers rule
Violations of basic freedoms in Cuba
Cubans can not:
Travel abroad without government permission.
Change jobs without government permission.
Change residence without government permission.
Access the Internet without government permission (the Internet is closely
monitored and controlled by the government. Only 1.67% of the population has
access to the Internet).
Send their children to a private or religious school (all schools are
government run, relgious or private schools are banned in Cuba).
Watch independent or private radio or TV stations (all TV and radio
stations are owned and run by the government). Cubans illegally watch/listen foreign broadcasts, risking fines and detention.
Read books, magazines or newspapers, unless approved/published by the
government (all books, magazines and newspapers are published by the
government).
Receive publications from abroad or from visitors (punishable by jail terms
under Law 88).
Visit or stay in tourist hotels, restaurants, and resorts (these are
off-limits to Cubans).
Seek employment with foreign companies on the island, unless approved by
the government.
Run for public office unless approved by the Communist Party.
Own businesses, unless they are very small and approved by the government under onerous taxes.
Join an independent labor union (there is only one, government controlled
labor union and no individual or collective bargaining is allowed; neither are
strikes or protests).
Retain a lawyer, unless approved by the government.
Choose a physician or hospital. Both are assigned by the government.
Refuse to participate in mass rallies and demonstrations organized by the
Cuban Communist Party (they may lose their jobs and be detained for indefinite periods).
Criticize the Castro regime or the Cuban Communist Party, the only party
allowed in Cuba.
_______________________
Cuba Transition Project, P.O. Box
248174, Coral Gables, Florida 33124-3010, Tel: 305-284-CUBA (2822), Fax:
305-284-4875, and by email at
La Oficina del Alto Comisionado de las Naciones Unidas recibe anualmente alrededor de 400,000 denuncias de violaciones a los derechos humanos, de los que gran parte llegan a través del número de fax de emergencia que funciona las 24 horas del día: (41-22) 917-0092. Cada año, se reciben por esta vía casi 200,000 comunicaciones informando sobre violaciones.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights receives some 400,000 complaints on human rights violations every year. Many of them are received through the emergency Fax available every day for 24 hours: (41-22) 917-0092. This fax number receives some 200,000 reports per year.
Everyone may also send their complaints through the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. In addition, ParticipatoryDemocracy.net has this interactive page available for publishing complaints and other reports on human rights.
Perspectivas / Perspectives 
The fighting in Darfour, Sudan, continues. But it is a lopsided or even a one-sided fighting. It has claimed more than 200,000 lives so far, most of them civilians. 
