UN Watch in the News

 

"...Una treintena de organizaciones no gubernamentales pidieron a la alta comisionada de derechos humanos de Naciones Unidas, Navi Pillay, que intervenga a favor de un disidente cubano. La petición, difundida el jueves por la organización 'UN Watch', con sede en Ginebra, solicita a la alta comisionada que intervenga ante el gobierno cubano para que permita viajar fuera de la isla al defensor de los derechos humanos Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina..." - Reporting on the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, co-organized by UN Watch and 24 other NGOs. "30 ONG’s abogan por derecho a viajar de disidente cubano," Radio Martí, March 10, 2010.

"...The boyfriend of an Iranian woman, who became an opposition icon after images of her death at a Tehran protest spread across the Internet, says the event has turned him into a staunch activist. A year ago, 'I wouldn't have thought that I would be here,' Caspian Makan told AFP on the sidelines of a human rights conference in Geneva. 'It changed my life, I'm very active right now I'm going to be more of an activist,' said the writer and documentary maker after he fled Iran and found refuge in Canada..." - Reporting on the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, co-organized by UN Watch and 24 other NGOs. "Boyfriend of killed Iran protest icon talks," Agence France Presse, March 10, 2010.

"...Addressing a gathering of dissidents and human rights advocates in Geneva, Caspian Makan, a photojournalist who fled Iran late last year after being detained for more than 60 days, said Iranian membership in the U.N.’s top human rights body would be a 'slap in the face' of other members..." - Reporting on the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, co-organized by UN Watch and 24 other NGOs. Patrick Goodenough, "Giving Iran a seat on U.N. Rights Council would legitimize its brutality and encourage other violators, Iranian says," CNS News, March 10, 2010.

"'...If and when we pull out of China and turn off Google.cn, I'm afraid that we will be taking away from the Chinese populace a tool that they have come to value,' he said. [Senior Google executive Bob] Boorstin encouraged human rights activists also to rely on platforms other than the Internet for transmitting information..." - Reporting on the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, co-organized by UN Watch and 24 other NGOs. "Google welcomes chance to export to Iran, Cuba," Associated Press, March 10, 2010.

"...Neda non era una ragazza comune, era diversa dai coetanei. Credeva nel valore della democrazia, cercava delle soluzioni per il suo Paese e combatteva per la libertà». Makan Caspian era il fidanzato di Neda Agha Soltan, la ragazza iraniana uccisa nelle strade di Teheran a giugno durante le manifestazioni di protesta seguite alle elezioni presidenziali. Parla a Ginevra, a margine del secondo summit per i diritti umani, la tolleranza e la democrazia, organizzato in concomitanza con il consiglio per i diritti umani dell’Onu..." - Reporting on the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, co-organized by UN Watch and 24 other NGOs. Francesco de Leo, "Islam e viaggi all'estero vi racconto l'Iran di Neda," La Stampa, March 10, 2010.

 

"...La Segunda Cumbre sobre los Derechos Humanos, la Tolerancia y la Democracia se celebró hoy en esta ciudad con la denuncia de activistas sobre actos de represión y tortura en Irán y Cuba. Caspian Makan, novio de Neda Agha-Solta, la joven asesinada en las protestas post-electorales en Irán y ahora ícono de la libertad para la oposición iraní, se pronunció a favor de la democracia en la República Islámica..." - Reporting on the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, co-organized by UN Watch and 24 other NGOs. "Activistas denuncian represión y torturas en Irán y Cuba," El Financiero, March 9, 2010.

 

"'...La gente quiere tener una democracia real en Irán, querrían cambiar el régimen por uno nuevo y bueno que respete los derechos humanos', declaró a Efe Caspian Makan, quien participa en Ginebra en una cumbre de disidentes y ex presos políticos sobre derechos humanos..." - Reporting on the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, co-organized by UN Watch and 24 other NGOs. "El novio de la joven iraní muerta ante las cámaras pide valentía para luchar contra régimen," EFE, March 9, 2010.

"...Robert Boorstin, head of Google's communications division, spoke briefly today about some of Google's activities and plans during a human rights forum in Switzerland -- the Geneva Summit for Human Rights Tolerance, and Democracy. Boorstin told the forum that Google has sponsored conferences allowing activists to get together and talk about the latest methods authoritarian regimes are using to block access to the Internet -- as well as developments on how to circumvent information blockades..." - Reporting on the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, co-organized by UN Watch and 24 other NGOs. Ron Synovitz, "Google Welcomes U.S. Easing Of Internet Export Rules For Iran, Others," Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, March 9, 2010.

  

"...In Italia si pratica la censura. Lo pensa Robert Boorstin, responsabile della comunicazione di Google, che è intervenuto a proposito della libertà d'informazione e Internet nel corso del secondo Summit di Ginevra sui diritti umani..." - Reporting on the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, co-organized by UN Watch and 24 other NGOs. "Google: 'Quello che è accaduto in Italia è censura,'" Il Salvagente, March 9, 2010.

 

"'...La censura su Internet sta peggiorando e diventando più sofisticata', ha detto Boorstin. 'Più di 40 Paesi hanno fatto ricorso alla censura a un momento o un altro e Google è stata interrotta in 25 Paesi', ha affermato in un intervento nel corso del secondo Summit di Ginevra sui diritti umani, la tolleranza e la democrazia, promosso da organizzazioni non governative quali UnWatch e Freedom House..." - Reporting on the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, co-organized by UN Watch and 24 other NGOs. "Google: Azienda, censura peggiora nel mondo, caso Italia," Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata, March 9, 2010.

"'...On m’a battu, mais on ne m’a pas vraiment torturé physiquement. La torture fut émotionnelle, psychologique', se souvient Caspian Makan. Il est libéré grâce à la caution de 100 000 dollars payée par les familles de Caspian et de Neda. Un procès l’attend. Il n’attendra pas. En octobre, grâce à des passeurs, il fuit la République islamique pour une ville du Moyen-Orient en franchissant un col difficile après huit heures de marche. La fuite? 'Une manière de crier au monde que les personnes tuées par le régime ne l’ont pas été pour rien', explique-t-il. En décembre, Caspian Makan arrive à ce qui est pour l’heure sa destination finale: le Canada..." - Reporting on the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, co-organized by UN Watch and 24 other NGOs. "Le témoignage poignant du fiancé de Neda," Le Temps, March 9, 2010.

"...Google si e' rallegrato per la decisione Usa di revocare l'embargo sui servizi Internet e software nei confronti dell'Iran e Sudan. 'E' un grande risultato' ha detto Robert Boorstin, direttore della comunicazione di Google nel corso di un dibattito internazionale a Ginevra su Internet, la censura ed i diritti umani...." - Reporting on the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, co-organized by UN Watch and 24 other NGOs. "Usa: Google,ok revoca embargo web a Iran," ANSA, March 9, 2010.

 

"'...Internet censorship is getting worse and more sophisticated,' Robert Boorstin told an international conference in Geneva. 'More than 40 countries have resorted to censorship at one time or another and Google has been interrupted in 25 countries,' he told the second annual Summit for Human Rights, Tolerance and Democracy, sponsored by non-governmental organisations like UN Watch and Freedom House...." - Reporting on the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, co-organized by UN Watch and 24 other NGOs. "Web Censorship Up Says Google," Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata, March 9, 2010.

"...Yang Jianly, an activist in China's 1989 Tiananmen protest and a former political prisoner, said that, despite all the efforts by the government, it is impossible to control the Internet or the 'will of 1 billion' people forever. 'Soon there will be so many holes in the great firewalls that, like the proverbial dike, it will be impossible to maintain," Yang said. 'Without the ability to control the Internet, China will not be able to control the will of 1 billion Chinese citizens...'" - Reporting on the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, co-organized by UN Watch and 24 other NGOs. "Shadow Summit In Geneva Focusing On Neglected Rights Issues," Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, March 8, 2010.

"...The Geneva Summit—organized by groups such as U.N. Watch and Freedom House, and chaired by Poland's Lech Walesa and the Czech Republic's Vaclav Havel—will bring together political dissidents from China, Iran and Burma, rights activists for the Tibetan and Uighur peoples, a survivor of the North Korean gulag, plus a former Sudanese slave named Simon Deng who plans to speak about 'the gross human-rights abuses by radical jihadists and the Islamic government in Khartoum...'" - "Friend and Faux on Human Rights," The Wall Street Journal, March 7, 2010.

"...This week 30 NGOs submitted an appeal to the U.N.’s top rights official, High Commissioner on Human Rights Navi Pillay, asking her to urge Havana to let Lobaina travel. During an interactive session at the HRC on Thursday, U.N. Watch director Hillel Neuer asked Pillay about Lobaina, but Cuba’s envoy interrupted the session, objecting to the raising of an issue which he said was not on the meeting’s agenda. Lobaina was imprisoned from 2000 to 2005..." - Reporting on the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, co-organized by UN Watch and 24 other NGOs. Patrick Goodenough, "Geneva Summit will focus on countries ignored by U.N. Human Rights Council," CNS News, March 5, 2010.

"...L’8 e il 9 marzo prossimi a Ginevra, si terra il 2 Summit for Human Rights, Tolerance and Democracy che offrira a tutti I dissidenti e agli attivisti per i diritti umani del mondo una piattaforma globale per condividere le loro battaglie personali, la loro lotta per la liberta e l’uguaglianza..." - Reporting on the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, co-organized by UN Watch and 24 other NGOs. "Liberi di dire fare e vedere," L'interprete Internazionale, March 5, 2010.

"...M. Lobaina, un ancien prisonnier de conscience qui a passé cinq ans dans les geôles cubaines pour "désordre public", devait s'exprimer au sommet de Genève pour les droits de l'homme, la tolérance et la démocratie, qui se déroulera lundi et mardi...." - Reporting on the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, co-organized by UN Watch and 24 other NGOs. "Un dissident cubain empêché de venir à Genève," L'Agence télégraphique suisse, March 5, 2010.

"...Thanks to a just-released report by U.N. Watch, a Geneva-based monitor of the United Nations, we know the council has not introduced, much less adopted, a single resolution condemning Iran. Nor has it held a single special session on the crisis. Nor has it mandated any investigations..." - Steve Huntley, "Guess who missed Iran's atrocities?," Chicago Sun-Times, February 26, 2010.

"...Unfortunately, what we’ve seen in the last decade and longer is the politicization of the Commission on Human Rights and now [its replacement], the Human Rights Council..." - UN Watch chairman Alfred Moses quoted in E.B. Solomont, "NGO: UNHRC gives impunity to violators," The Jerusalem Post, February 26, 2010.