It has been alleged that President Vladimir Putin of Russia has a secret fortune of £20 billion. It is not that easy to see why a person would need that much money but easy to see how a state could benefit its people with such an...

Two things I have written about before in my blog – remembering history and using songs to send a political message. These come together in a report about a massacre that happened in Chile almost exactly a century ago. Daniela Estrada...

Of course I am glad to hear that Gillian Gibbons, the teacher who was imprisoned for the name given to a teddy bear, is on her way back home to Liverpool. It seems that when two Moslem parliamentarians from the UK negotiated with the...

If you run an educational centre it is good to be able to point to the achievements of former students. Awkward if you have produced notorious dictators such as Noriega of Panama as well as those responsible for massacres of hundreds...

I have been blogging here since June 2006. I decided to start the blog because I like to write and share my opinions in support of Amnesty International. I like the idea of using the internet to keep up with events and respond quickly...

Yesterday's Newsnight programme on BBC television had a report filmed undercover in Uzbekistan. The report showed that schools are closed and children taken by coach to the fields to pick cotton. Most of the cotton is exported and ends...

A Report from the American Bar Association describes shortcomings of procedures for the death penalty in eight states.

No Plan, No Peace: The Inside Story of Iraq's Descent into Chaos is on BBC1 television on at 10:15 pm on Sunday 28 October and even later at 10:45 pm the following evening. I will be watching this series with interest. I have also been...

Just have another look at that amount and realise how gigantic it is. It is the cost so far of war in Iraq to the taxpayers of the United States. Or rather it was but the figure is already out of date as I write this. It is climbing by...

I am keen to see the film Rendition although I have not yet found out when it will be shown in Shropshire. I looked at the website of the film and although it is rather flashy and artistic rather than easy and quick to navigate I did...

The government in Burma has come down ruthlessly against the peaceful protests by Buddhist monks and others. Burma is very much in the headlines and the world is watching to see if the so-called State Peace and Development Council can...

The Dalai Lama is to be honoured with a Congressional Gold Medal in the United States. Previous recipients of the Gold Medals have included Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and Mother Teresa. "The award is in recognition...

The Forbidden Team is being shown at the Ritzy in Brixton at 7 pm on Wednesday 8 August. That date is exactly one year before the Beijing Olympics. The film is about the Tibetan national football team. We are lucky that even if it is...

The news section of this website gives details of 30 people given life sentences in Ethiopia, most if not all of them considered by Amnesty to be prisoners of conscience. Mesfin Woldemariam is one who is named and I seem to remember...

The Dalai Lama, religious and political leader of the Tibetan people, has decided against visiting Belgium for the Fifth International Conference of Tibet Support Groups, currently being held in Brussels. (At the previous four of these...

Amnesty has today issued a new report on the Chinese government's record on human rights in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics in summer 2008. The Olympic Games should be a peaceful and positive international event but the Chinese...

I would like to agree with Tony Blair when UK Prime Minister who said, "The same courage and dedication that people showed to overcome the slave trade 200 years ago should be used to tackle the many forms of modern day slavery, the...

Why not put a question about human rights on the web chat with the UK Foreign Secretary? It was to take place on 21 Feb. 2007 but had to be postponed. A new date has not yet been fixed. I have put on a question but it would be good to...

A search on the internet comes up with many film festivals around the world on the theme of human rights. I wish that most of them were not so far away from me! It is probably easier to arrange such a festival in a major capital city...

I have seen some discussion about Asian values and their relationship to human rights. The essence of the argument seems to be that in Asia the good of the group has to be given more weight and so the individual cannot be given so much...