ARTICLE 19

ARTICLE 19 believes that hunger cannot be eradicated unless information flows freely, governments and big businesses are transparent, and people participate in decision-making; the organisation has joined a global coalition looking to make dramatic progress towards ending the global hunger crisis in 2013.

The International Partnership Group, coordinated by ARTICLE 19, along with Amnesty International, several Azerbaijani NGOs and other international organisations urge the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to make a strong call for Azerbaijan to improve its deteriorating human rights record.

In a letter to the US President, 40 human rights organisations called for US support to release 13 Bahrainis, unjustly jailed by the Bahraini government, one of the strongest allies of the US in the region.

The use of insulting words or behaviour will no longer be a criminal offence in the UK under the Public Order Act of 1986. ARTICLE 19 urges the government to address other laws that violate freedom of expression, such as
Section 127(1) of the Communications Act 2003, which makes it illegal to use grossly offensive language online.

Thirty IFEX members protested the sentencing of bloggers, citizen journalists and rights activists, jailed for up to 13 years in the biggest ever trial of pro-democracy activists in Vietnam.

Tokbergen Abiyev is safe and well after raising concerns about his disappearance on 20 December. The journalist has claimed that he staged his own disappearance, ahead of a planned press conference about corruption in Kazakhstan, in order to raise awareness about the issue both within the country and internationally.

In a ruling condemned as yet another move aimed at silencing opposition voices, 13 pro-democracy activists were jailed in Vietnam for writing commentary critical of the government, and participating in and encouraging peaceful protest.

This is a report of a baseline survey on the right to information for internally displaced persons (IDPs) that was conducted by Article 19 Eastern Africa. The study sought to ascertain to what extent internally displaced persons in Kenya exercised their right of access to information at the different stages of displacement.