Free Talk Live

Full Text of Human Rights Record of the United States in 2009.

U.S. Calls for Release of Chinese Activist

BEIJING—The U.S. ambassador to China called on Beijing to release a prominent property activist sentenced last week to more than two years in prison, a rare move by an envoy who has criticized China's human-rights record but has seldom publicly questioned individual cases.

A Canadian woman has launched a human rights complaint against the city of Ottawa for refusing to let her to park in front of her home in a historic district, a court spokeswoman said Wednesday. Property rights are human rights, so she's got that much right, right?

Book interview provides a history of 'human rights'. Who made up the definitive list, who is the keeper of the list, where does the concept come from?

You will be surprised to know that the concept of 'human rights' is a very young one, what started in the 1970's and re-emerged in the 1990's has deep historical, religious and legal roots. Samuel also weighs in on current events in North Africa and Europe from his perspective as a historian.

NRA: Stop Helping Human Rights Abusers Get Weapons!

Children -- no matter where they live -- must be kept safe from gun violence. The United Nations is preparing to finalize a treaty that would help to do just that by helping to stem the flow of weapons to human rights abusers. The National Rifle Association (NRA) leadership is standing in the way of these efforts by waging a campaign of misinformation and lies to force the U.S. government to oppose the treaty.

The top United Nations investigator on Palestinian human rights is calling for a boycott of all companies linked to settlements in the occupied West Bank. Richard Falk, the special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, said firms including Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, Volvo and Caterpillar are complicit in the Israeli occupation.

In an op-ed for the New York Times, Vint Cerf writes that civil protests around the world, sparked by Internet communications, 'have raised questions about whether Internet access is or should be a civil or human right.' Cerf argues that 'technology is an enabler of rights, not a right itself,' and contends that for something to be considered a human right, it 'must be among the things we as humans need in order to lead healthy, meaningful lives, like freedom from torture or freedom of conscience.

The abuse of power by the Venezuelan government under President Hugo Chavez has increased over the past four years, according to Human Rights Watch. Legislation limiting free speech and the removal of institutional safeguards give the government free rein to censor and intimidate critics, the group says. In 2008, Venezuela expelled HRW representatives, accusing them of interfering in the country's affairs. This latest report comes in the midst of Venezuela's election campaign.

Say goodbye to China's "export economy" paradigm. Perhaps this finally explains where all the excess liquidity has gone: with China now not exporting to the US consumer, it has instead refocused on its own "middle" class.