Articles by PEN International
Rights groups call for charges against Moroccan editor Ali Anouzla to be dropped
Journalist and editor Ali Anouzla was arrested on 17 September 2013 in connection with a 13 September news article published on the Arabic edition of news website Lakome. Ahead of a Rabat court hearing scheduled on 18 February, local and international rights organisations came together to call for the charges against him to be dropped.
Vietnamese lawyer and blogger Le Quoc Quan on hunger strike ahead of his appeal trial
Jailed Vietnamese blogger and human rights lawyer Le Quoc Quan has launched a hunger strike to protest the refusal by prison authorities to provide him access to legal counsel, access to legal and religious books, and access to a priest for spiritual guidance, ahead of his appeal trial on 18 February 2014 in Hanoi.
International community unites against Big Brother
On 11 February, The Day We Fight Back, organisations and individuals around the world demanded an end to mass surveillance.
UN Human Rights Council urged to address deteriorating situation in Vietnam
ARTICLE 19 and PEN International urged the international community to address the increasingly severe crackdown on free speech in Viet Nam, while at the UN in Geneva. Rather than improving, the human rights situation in Viet Nam has deteriorated markedly since 2009, when the country last underwent a Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
Eritrea: UN human rights review is opportunity for government to lift severe restrictions on free expression
As the human rights record of Eritrea comes under review for the second time under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism of the United Nations on 3 February 2014, PEN International calls on the Eritrean government to end violations of freedom of expression and the continuing practice of incommunicado detention without trial of writers and journalists.
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.
Failing Cambodia human rights record reviewed at UN as crackdown on protests continues
A coalition of human rights groups urged the international community to address the increasingly severe crackdown on free speech in Cambodia, during the country’s Universal Periodic Review at the UN in Geneva.
Report: Honduras must end lethal violence against journalists and climate of impunity
The rising scale of murderous violence against journalists in Honduras was revealed in a report launched on 23 January 2014 by PEN Canada in partnership with PEN International and the International Human Rights Program (IHRP) at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law.