Week-ending 20 December 2024
“Tech companies find themselves vulnerable to blocking and other forms of pressure by Russian authorities. However, this does not give the companies carte blanche to enable the Kremlin’s outrageous violations of human rights online.”
– Anastasiia Kruope, assistant Europe and Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch
‘Foreign tech companies have given in to intensifying pressure from Russian authorities to comply with draconian national laws that violate international human rights standards, Human Rights Watch said today. Companies should meet their human rights responsibilities and make it possible for users in Russia to stay connected. Over the past six months, Russian authorities have increasingly issued arbitrary demands to major foreign tech companies to take down content and prevent internet users in Russia from accessing tools that allow them to circumvent censorship. The firms have complied despite the clear violation of rights to freedom of expression and access to information.’Foreign tech companies have a responsibility to respect human rights. They are required to avoid infringing on human rights, and to carry out due diligence to identify and address human rights impacts arising from their services including by providing meaningful access to remedies and to communicate how they are addressing these impacts.’
Source: ‘Russia: Foreign Tech Companies Cave to Authorities’ Pressure,’ Human Rights Watch, 17 December 24
“The brutal reign of the Assad dictatorship is over, and with it — hopefully — the violent repression of the press in Syria. With more than 180 journalists killed and executed by the regime and its allies since 2011, and with the imprisonment and torture of reporters in his prisons, Bashar al-Assad made Syria one of the worst countries in the world for media professionals, according to RSF’s 2024 World Press Freedom Index. We demand that Bashar al-Assad be prosecuted for his crimes. Justice, long overdue, must finally be served for all victims of his abuses. We are also aware of the crimes committed by HTS against journalists: we call on HTS to hold their responsible members accountable, and to release all journalists still detained in the country, including those they have taken hostage. Syria’s future leaders, whoever they may be, must ensure the safety of journalists and allow a free press to flourish.”
– Jonathan Dagher, Head of RSF’s Middle East Desk.
‘Journalists were bombed by the Syrian army and its Russian allies while doing their job, targeted by government snipers, tortured, and murdered in Assad’s prisons. The killings of 181 journalists by the Syrian regime and its supporters — 161 by regime forces and 17 in Russian airstrikes, according to RSF data — must not go unpunished.’
Source: ‘Syria: RSF calls for Bashar al-Assad to be prosecuted for the murder of 181 journalists since the 2011 revolution,’ RSF, 10 December 2024
NB: On 9 December 2024 the BBC reported: ‘State media in Russia, a key ally of Assad’s regime, said he and his family have arrived in Moscow and been granted asylum “out of humanitarian considerations”. He fled after rebel group HTS swept into the capital this weekend.’
