Citizen Cartwright

Freedom in Russia

The country’s only independent polling agency, The Levada Center, may shut down, its director said on Monday, after prosecutors said it would have to identify itself as “a foreign agent.”

The prosecutors cite grants the center received from the MacArthur Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the Open Society Institute Foundation, which the center says represents no more than 3 percent of its funding.

But Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused foreign governments of using nonprofits to incite unrest.

Amnesty International: Death penalty 'becoming a thing of the past'

There has been progress toward abolishing the death penalty in all regions of the world, despite a number of countries resuming executions after periods of not carrying them out, the human rights group says.

The five countries carrying out the most executions continue to be China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Same-sex marriage tops ballot measures

Until now, same-sex marriage has been rejected in all 32 states that have had popular votes on it.

But gay rights advocates think they have a chance to change that as Maine, Maryland and Washington state vote on whether to legalize same-sex marriage and Minnesota votes on whether to add a ban on gay marriage to its state constitution, says The Associated Press.

There are 176 measures on the ballots of 38 states, according to the Initiative and Referendum Institute at the University of Southern California.

Washington, Oregon and Colorado could become the first states to legalize the recreational use of marijuana; Massachusetts is considering whether to allow doctor-assisted suicide; and Californians vote on whether to repeal the death penalty.

Obama taking on technology use in human rights abuses

The president will issue an executive order Monday allowing U.S. officials for the first time to impose sanctions against foreign nationals found to have used new technologies, from cellphone tracking to Internet monitoring, to help carry out human rights abuses.

The order is intended to target companies and individuals aiding the governments of Iran and Syria, according to officials.

 

'Enemies of the Internet' named

This year's list of countries that thwart their citizens' online freedom of expression, put out by Reporters Without Borders, reflects changes brought about by the Arab Spring.

Bahrain has been added to the list after its crackdown on dissent; Libya has been removed after the end of the Gadhafi regime's censorship.

Ethics writ small: High school bullying

Half of American students say they've bullied, teased or taunted someone at least once in the past year, and nearly half say they've been bullied, according to one of the biggest studies ever on the topic, by the Josephson Institute of Ethics.

Media violence and domestic violence have a role in bullying, says Sally Kuykendall, assistant professor of health services at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, who has studied bullying for nearly a decade.

Winners of the 'Alternative Nobel Prize'

This year's Right Livelihood Award winners were announced Thursday morning in Sweden: Nnimmo Bassey of Nigeria for "revealing the full ecological and human horrors of oil production" there,  Bishop Erwin Krautler of Brazil for his efforts to save the Amazon and indigenous people, Shrikrishna Upadhyay and the group Support Activities for Poor Producers of Nepal, and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel.

This is the 30th anniversary of the awards, which were the idea of journalist Jakob von Uexkull, who thought the Nobel Prize categories were too narrow and too concentrated on the interests of industrialized countries.

He wanted to recognize the work of people who are "coming up with practical answers to challenges like the pollution of our air, soil and water, the danger of nuclear war, the abuse of basic human rights, the destitution and misery of the poor and the over-consumption and spiritual poverty of the wealthy."

The winners will split a $270,000 cash award.

Medical ethics and terrorism

Doctors, psychologists and other medical professionals who monitored the CIA’s use of waterboarding and other "enhanced" interrogation techniques were engaging in forms of human research and experimentation in violation of medical ethics and domestic and international law, according to a report being published by Physicians for Human Rights.

"The CIA appears to have broken all accepted legal and ethical standards put in place since the Second World War to protect prisoners from being the subjects of experimentation," says Frank Donaghue, PHR's chief executive officer. "Not only are these alleged acts gross violations of human rights law, they are a grave affront to America's core values."

“The report is just wrong,” says Paul Gimigliano, a CIA spokesman. “The CIA did not, as part of its past detention program, conduct human subject research on any detainee or group of detainees. The entire detention effort has been the subject of multiple, comprehensive reviews within our government, including by the Department of Justice.”  

40 named 'predators' of press freedom

In a report marking World Press Freedom Day on Monday, the media watchdog group Reporters Without Borders put out its annual list of leaders and groups that treat the press "as an enemy" and attack journalists.

Among those listed: Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

Journalist 'death watch'

Last year was the deadliest in a decade for journalists, with 110 killed on the job or targeted because of their profession, according to the International Press Institute's World Press Freedom Review.

"When it comes to the deliberate murder of journalists because of their work we are still mired in an age of barbarity," says Anthony Mills, the review's managing editor.