Physicians for Human Rights

Initially this site looks like it is for health professionals only but that is definitely not the case. It does offer internships and is run by members of the health sector in the United States but there is much more to it than that. There are a number of ongoing campaigns plus some individual actions on a variety of human rights issues. The site seems well maintained and you can subscribe to a free online newsletter informing you of all new actions.

http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/
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Afghanistan Human Rights

The elections have happened but the controversy is far from over. With several hundred reports of fraud, no overall winner and alleged disagreements between the USA and President Karzai, there is possibly more opportunity to influence world leaders to take action and improve conditions for all.

The first site below just gives you information about what is happening in the country although I do not know the source of its reports but it does often have articles from well known news agencies. It has no actions but as last week it allows you to contact either the Afghani Consul, the UN security council or your national political representative

http://www.e-ariana.com/

The second site is a campaign from Physicians for Human Rights which I will put on my blog next week and has a petition to try and make the USA Government investigate a massacre in 2001 in Afghanistan.

http://afghanistan.phrblog.org/
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Afghanistan

With all this week's media attention on Afghanistan regarding the upcoming elections, the official pardoning of a band of criminals by Karzai and the upcoming elections, I realised that most people including myself probably do not really know what really is going on. There is plenty of media coverage but it seems to be generally one-dimensional and actually can discourage interest in the everyday human tragedies happening.

Therefore, I have decided to signpost you to 2 sites this week that are covering the events from a more local point of view and highlight some of the atrocities being committed. Since Afghanistan is in the world political and military spotlight with the elections, this may be your opportunity to contact your political representatives and ask them to actually do something about the daily human rights abuses.

The first site is Canadian based and attempts to report the facts. If you go to the home page you can find lots of reports updated everyday about various "Global Security" issues.

http://www.afghanconflictmonitor.org/human_rights/

The second site is from Afghanistan and does have some very interesting sections but I do not know how unbiased it is and from what political angle it comes from

http://kabulpress.org
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International Freedom of Expression Exchange

This site was formed in Canada in 1992 and highlights injustices against "Freedom of Speech" throughout the world. It is regularly updated and has regional sections so you can find out what is happening in each continent. It contains a mixture of information, action that we can all partake in and a campaign's section often working in conjunction with other similar organizations. I recommend taking a bit of time to view all aspects of this site.

http://www.ifex.org/
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