Bangladeshi civil society leaders call for amendments to the NGO bill at the Oct. 9 press conference (photo source: The Daily Star). On October 9, Bangladeshi activists convened a press conference to criticize a draft bill introduced by the parliament called the Foreign Donations (Voluntary Activities) Regulation Bill. Under Section 14 of the Bill, the…
From September 20-22, 2016, activists, journalists, media professionals, and influencers met at the Global Forum for Media Development’s (GFMD) fourth international conference, “Decoding the Future: Rethinking Media for a New World,” in Jakarta, Indonesia. The GFMD is a network of media assistance groups with the mission to “make media an integral part of international development…
On September 1, 2016, Venezuelan protesters filled the streets of Caracas, calling upon the government to hold a recall election that would likely oust President Maduro. Dozens of demonstrators, including the journalist Braulio Jatar Alonso who publicized information about the protests, were arrested, further adding to Venezuela’s growing list of political prisoners. However, the opposition’s…
On September 4, 2016, Azerbaijani civil society leaders signed a letter to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe (COE), Thorbjørn Jagland, urging him to call upon the COE’s Venice Commission to comment on Azerbaijan’s upcoming Referendum Act. The letter was signed by Intiqam Aliyev, Emin Huseynov, Rasul Jafarov, Anar Mammadli, and Dr. Leyla…