Articles by PEN America
Escalating concerns about privacy lead to calls for increased UN action
A call for a UN mandate on privacy emerged from an expert seminar held in Geneva this week on “The Right to Privacy in the Digital Age”.
Coalition condemns Vietnam court decision in Le Quoc Quan case
It is believed that Mr. Quan’s detention is politically motivated and a reaction to his blog, where he frequently exposed human rights violations by the Vietnamese government.
The human face of the free expression crackdown in China
In China, it doesn’t matter if you’re western, Han Chinese, Uyghur, or a citizen of a slightly freer municipality. If you speak out against the regime, or aid your countrymen in doing so, or just simply report on what you see, you’re going to pay the price.
Atwood, Rushdie, Soyinka protest Russia’s stranglehold on free speech
In an open letter published by The Guardian, renowned writers including Edward Albee, Anthony Appiah, Margaret Atwood, Ariel Dorfman, Jeffrey Eugenides, Günter Grass, Salman Rushdie and others reflect on past contributions of Russian writers and the enormous loss to the world if they were to be silenced.
Transparency, independent media are vital for global development plan
195 civil society organisations from around the world have called on the UN to put government accountability and independent media at the centre of a new framework for global development.
Release Alaa Abd El Fattah and all those unjustly detained in Egypt
Following the criminalisation of peaceful protest in Egypt in November 2013, 57 organisations and individuals release joint statement against arrests of Egyptian bloggers and political activists.
Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo! pass free expression “stress test”, with room for improvement
The Global Network Initiative has released its first assessment report of Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo, and found all three firms to be “in compliance.” The assessment process determines how member tech companies implement principles for protecting free expression and privacy in the digital age.
Off the soccer field, creativity in Cameroon languishes in prison
After 30 years of rule, President Paul Biya would certainly like nothing more than for his critics to root for his country’s success in the World Cup and forget about his regime’s human rights abuses. But Cameroon’s victories will ring hollow when one of its most creative voices off the field – writer Enoh Meyomesse – languishes in prison.