"Considerable attention has been focused on the opportunities presented by new information and communication technologies for development (“ICT4D”) and for government (“ICT4GOV”). The purpose of this report is to analyze their impact on human rights (“ICT4HR”). As Philip Alston, the form
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er Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, explained in a report to the General Assembly: “New technologies offer a great many potential solutions to some of [the] problems [in human rights fact-inding], and offer signiicant improvements in existing factinding methodologies.” He notes, however, that there has been “[l]ittle sustained work . . . by the human rights community as a whole to apply existing technologies or to study their potential uses and problems.” This report aims to remedy that gap. Using case studies largely from three countries, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Dominican Republic, the report considers both the opportunities and risks presented by new technologies for human rights. The report concludes there are beneits that can be realized through the deployment of new technologies in human rights projects. New technologies offer the potential to reduce the cost of collecting information about human rights issues and to increase participation in human rights advocacy efforts. Each of these possible beneits, however, gives rise to new risks and challenges. Although new technologies can reduce the cost of information gathering, it can be dificult to ensure the accuracy of the information generated, and the associated volume can make it challenging and expensive to identify relevant data. There is also no guarantee that increased participation or information will be translated into action or concrete outcomes for the community." (Executive summary)
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"Chapters explore what happens in praxis when digital media are implemented across cultures and are contested and negotiated within complex local and political conditions. The book showcases interpretative and critical research from voices with diverse backgrounds, from locations around the world."
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(Publisher description)
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"This book aims to provide a context in which a clear link can be traced between the politics of memory and its manifold representations and misrepresentations in public media towards a viable politics of justice. The assumption is that public awareness and perceptions of injustice, whether they are
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political, economic, or social, depend on the mass media of communication for recognition and valorization – including, today, new communication and information technologies such as social media platforms. Undoubtedly this assumption is based on a system in which mass media can operate independently, fairly, and in a balanced and unbiased way: in other words, according to a much vaunted and fast vanishing ‘public service ethos’ imbued with high standards of truthtelling, objectivity, balance, and accountability. A parallel assumption is that if the public is made aware and has access to relevant information and knowledge, it will be motivated to pressure governments for reform, reparation, and – in the best possible scenario – some kind of consensus between all parties on ways to move forward as a nation. As we have pointed out above, this argues for an a priori ‘right to memory’ that affirms and protects those frameworks and structures of collective memory that guarantee the physical, psychological, and symbolic integrity of a group of people or, indeed, a nation. There are many aspects to the debate." (Introduction, page 17)
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"This report is the third in a series of comprehensive studies of internet freedom around the globe and covers developments in 47 countries that occurred between January 2011 and May 2012. Over 50 researchers, nearly all based in the countries they analyzed, contributed to the project by researching
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laws and practices relevant to the internet, testing the accessibility of select websites, and interviewing a wide range of sources. This year's findings indicate that restrictions on internet freedom in many countries have continued to grow, though the methods of control are slowly evolving, becoming more sophisticated and less visible. Brutal attacks against bloggers, politically motivated surveillance, proactive manipulation of web content, and restrictive laws regulating speech online are among the diverse threats to internet freedom emerging over the past two years. Nevertheless, several notable victories have also occurred as a result of greater activism by civil society, technology companies, and independent courts, illustrating that efforts to advance internet freedom can yield results." (www.freedomhouse.org, January 14, 2013)
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"In the immediate aftermath of the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the CDAC (Communicating with Disaster Affected Communities) Network undertook its first ever ground initiative. This initiative, which came to be known as CDAC Haiti, was funded largely through the OCHA’s ERRF with some additiona
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l short-term funding in 2011 from the global CDAC Network and the World Health Organisation (WHO). In total, CDAC Haiti received US $615,000. This Learning Review aims to document CDAC Haiti’s activities, assess achievements, and contribute knowledge about what worked, what didn’t, and why. A key component of the Review is the identification of lessons from this ‘new’ area of humanitarian coordination that can be drawn for other emergency operations." (Page iv)
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"Significant progress has been made in regional agreements, providing a suitable frame of reference for a social approach to the care model. Although adjustments are required to harmonize domestic norms with international referents, much remains to be done for educational norms in the regions to ado
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pt provisions promoting educational inclusion according to the commitments acquired by ratifying the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Human rights are evolving positively under constitutional frameworks and in laws on education and disability. In Central America and some countries of the Caribbean, general education laws take persons with disabilities into account through special education (with the exception of Panama). The same trend can be observed in national Constitutions. This improves in national laws on disability, which are more specific and favor inclusive education or include both modalities. In all three regions, there is no regulatory framework or specific policies on digital inclusion, much less on the use of ICTs for persons with disabilities. There are some isolated attempts to implement ICTs in all sectors of society. Issues of accessibility, the right to education and the use of technologies by persons with disabilities are not well integrated." (Conclusions from the study, page 68-69)
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"Significant progress has been made in regional agreements, providing a suitable frame of reference for a social approach to the care model. Although adjustments are required to harmonize domestic norms with international referents, much remains to be done for educational norms in the regions to ado
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pt provisions promoting educational inclusion according to the commitments acquired by ratifying the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Human rights are evolving positively under constitutional frameworks and in laws on education and disability. In Central America and some countries of the Caribbean, general education laws take persons with disabilities into account through special education (with the exception of Panama). The same trend can be observed in national Constitutions. This improves in national laws on disability, which are more specific and favor inclusive education or include both modalities. In all three regions, there is no regulatory framework or specific policies on digital inclusion, much less on the use of ICTs for persons with disabilities. There are some isolated attempts to implement ICTs in all sectors of society. Issues of accessibility, the right to education and the use of technologies by persons with disabilities are not well integrated." (Conclusions from the study, página 68-69)
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"El valor de este trabajo radica en la visión global que nos ofrecen los distintos equipos de trabajo de los países sobre los diferentes y complejos escenarios en los que se dan la relación audiencia-medios, lo que sucede antes y después de esa relación, el aporte de los contenidos que ofrecen
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los medios, la visión que las audiencias tienen de sus propios medios y, en fin, una serie de conceptos que dejan planteadas dudas que incentivan a la discusión en torno a este tema que tiene varias implicaciones." (Descripción de la casa editorial)
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"Pese al clima –por momentos agobiante– de polarización, en Cuba ha emergido una variedad de blogs y de blogueros que buscan sobreponerse a las dificultades políticas y materiales. Más allá de los adjetivos con que cada «bando» busca descalificar a los otros, en los últimos años la exten
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sión de la blogósfera cubana ha sido capaz, no obstante, de construir algunos puentes y espacios que buscan salir de los «monólogos» tanto oficialistas como opositores. Todo ello en un contexto en el que tanto para el gobierno cubano como para el de Estados Unidos la web forma parte de una batalla política de mayores dimensiones." (Resumen)
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"¿Por qué hacer un libro sobre protesta social en América Latina? Porque los movimientos indígenas, cooperativas obreras, grupos ecologistas, movimientos feministas, agrupaciones piqueteras, movimientos estudiantiles y hasta las cacerolas de la clase media y los sectores de altos recursos, entre
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otros, se están manifestando en la región. Y es que la protesta social es la posibilidad pública y simbólica de expresar activamente nuestras demandas, nuestras frustraciones ciudadanas y de existir en público. Esto hace que la protesta social sea una zona de intersección entre la libertad de expresión, la gobernabilidad democrática y lo mediático político. Lo que sabíamos del asunto era que tanto los medios de comunicación como los gobiernos cuentan el reclamo más que el contenido de la protesta, cuentan los destrozos más que las demandas, asumen el confl icto como negativo para la democracia, y cuando aparecen los sectores que protestan los “localizan” en el lamento y la sensiblería. El resultado es que poco o nada se entiende acerca de la protesta social como ejercicio activo de la libertad de expresión. En este libro periodístico queremos contar los modos como la protesta social toma forma en América Latina y cómo se relaciona con la democracia." (Introducción, página 7)
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"In the year of the Arab uprisings Global Information Society Watch 2011 investigates how governments and internet and mobile phone companies are trying to restrict freedom online – and how citizens are responding to this using the very same technologies. Everyone is familiar with the stories of E
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gypt and Tunisia. GISWatch authors tell these and other lesser-known stories from more than 60 countries. Stories about: Prison conditions in Argentina - prisoners are using the internet to protest living conditions and demand respect for their rights; Torture in Indonesia - the torture of two West Papuan farmers was recorded on a mobile phone and leaked to the internet, the video spread to well-known human rights sites sparking public outrage and a formal investigation by the authorities; The tsunami in Japan - citizens used social media to share actionable information during the devastating tsunami, and in the aftermath online discussions contradicted misleading reports coming from state authorities. GISWatch also includes thematic reports and an introduction from Frank La Rue, Un special rapporteur." (Back cover)
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"There is abundant evidence of underrepresentation of women as subjects of coverage, but until now there were no reliable, comprehensive data on which to make a clear determination about where women currently fit into the news-making operation or in the decision-making or ownership structure of thei
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r companies. The IWMF Global Report on the Status of Women in the News Media seeks to fill this gap by presenting for the first time sound data on gender positions in news organizations around the world [...] The findings presented in this report, conducted over a two-year period, offer the most complete picture to date of women’s status globally in news media ownership, publishing, governance, reporting, editing, photojournalism, broadcast production and other media jobs. More than 150 researchers interviewed executives at more than 500 companies in 59 nations using a 12-page questionnaire." (Introduction)
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"The religious media in Cuba currently provide the most substantial alternative to the official media, other than academic and cultural publications such as TEMAS and those of the universities and research centers. Given that the academic and cultural publications are published by institutions techn
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ically within the state sector, the religious media is, using a strict definition, the only fully autonomous media sector in Cuba, other than the independent journalists’ movement. With respect to the religious media in Cuba, it should be noted that virtually all suffer from a scarcity of resources. Most of the material resources come from abroad and are subject to government regulation and control, thereby encouraging caution on the part of churches and other religious organizations. They, as well as foreign religious donors, have been careful not to become identified with some of the dissident or oppositional sectors of civil society. Even so, the increased role of religions in responding to the socioeconomic needs of the population has expanded the credibility and influence of most religions within civil society and hence their publications. Overall, while religions and the religious media are emerging as critical elements of a revitalizing civil society, there is an understandable desire on their part not to precipitate serious conflicts with the government. While religious leaders, by and large, may have become more publicly critical of the government, this has not translated into substantial efforts on their part to directly mobilize civil society." (Conclusion, page 199-200)
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"Se rangeant parmi les cinq plus grands donateurs d’aide publique au développement (APD), l'Allemagne est fortement engagée dans la lutte pour un accès universel à la prévention, au traitement et à la prise en charge du VIH. Une bonne partie des contributions allemandes est accordée sous fo
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rme de soutien financier et technique à la communication pour le changement de comportement (CCC), souvent associée au marketing social de préservatifs. Cette publication étudie en détail plusieurs projets dans le cadre desquels l'Allemagne a apporté un soutien à la production et à la diffusion de séries télévisées comme composantes clés de la CCC dans trois pays confrontés à des situations épidémiologiques très différentes. Au Kirghizistan, l'épidémie est largement concentrée parmi les consommateurs de drogues injectables (CDI), pour la plupart des hommes jeunes, mais touche aussi des professionnelles du sexe. L'épidémie s’étend rapidement, et l’on craint qu'elle ne se propage davantage dans la population en général. Diffusée pour la première fois en 2006, la série « Love as a Test » avait pour but de sensibiliser les spectateurs au fait que le VIH ne concerne pas uniquement « les autres », mais peut facilement toucher chaque individu ainsi que ses proches, et qu’il est possible d’agir pour éviter sa propagation et en limiter les dommages. En République dominicaine, les taux de prévalence du VIH sont extrêmement élevés chez les Haïtiens de souche vivant dans les bateyes (campements attenant aux plantations de canne à sucre), dans les zones rurales et dans les bidonvilles. Diffusée pour la première fois en 2007, « Amor de Batey » avait pour but de promouvoir l'utilisation régulière et correcte de préservatifs peu coûteux mais fiables, de renforcer l’autonomie des femmes, d'améliorer leur santé et de limiter la mortalité infantile. En Côte d'Ivoire, les taux de prévalence du VIH sont élevés dans l’ensemble du pays, mais beaucoup plus importants chez les femmes que chez les hommes. Cela est notamment dû à la pratique courante des relations sexuelles multiples et concomitantes et aux faibles niveaux d'éducation et de connaissances en matière de santé sexuelle et reproductive. Diffusée pour la première fois en 1994, « Sida dans la Cité » avait des objectifs similaires à ceux de « Amor de Batey ». La première série a rencontré un tel succès qu'elle a été suivie d'une deuxième diffusée en 1996-1997, puis d'une troisième diffusée en 2003. Les trois séries ont connu une grande popularité dans tous les pays francophones d'Afrique de l’Ouest et d'Afrique centrale. Cette publication retrace la genèse de chacune de ces séries, en présente un bref synopsis, résume les résultats des évaluations formelles qui en ont été faites et fournit des appréciations plus informelles. Elle tire ensuite des conclusions et constate que les séries télévisées peuvent apporter des contributions très utiles à la lutte contre le VIH au niveau national. Les séries qui remportent le plus de succès sont basées sur de solides recherches, reflètent les réalités de la vie telles qu’elles sont vécues par les publics cibles et sont réalisées de manière très professionnelle, leur assurant à la fois un haut niveau de divertissement et une grande efficacité comme outil éducatif." (Résumé, page 5)
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