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An estimated three million women and girls undergo female genital mutilation each year, according to a 2005 Unicef report. For many Europeans and Americans, these are three million female victims we should feel sorry for or donate to, or perhaps read a book about a girl who survived this practice thousands of miles away from the FGM-free shores of Europe – but not an issue that seems to effect our neighbors down the street, our fellow citizens across town, or even ourselves. But the reality is closer to home than we think. (08-MAR-06)
 

Journalists working in Serbia & Montenegro continue to have their right to free expression violated. Following a United Nations Human Rights Committee ruling on 23 January, ARTICLE 19 has called for the removal of defamation from the criminal law books. The Committee ruled that use of criminal law in the case of Bodrozic versus Serbia & Montenegro supressed valid criticism of public officials and violated the journalist’s right to freedom of expression. The Committee was particularly critical of the use of the criminal ‘insult’ provisions. (07-MAR-06)

English PEN´s Writers in Prison Committee supports more than 700 writers persecuted worldwide for exercising their right to freedom of expression. As part of their campaigning work, PEN has been highlighting an individual case each month since 2003, initiating appeals to heads of state and relevant government departments and providing vital background information about the country and writers concerned. (03-FEB-05)
 

A leading Danish newspaper has apologised for the offence caused by its controversial publication of a series of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed that provoked protests across the Middle East, while defending its right to commission and print them in the first place. Rohan Jayasekera reports. (01-FEB-06)
 

ARTICLE 19 and three other media organisations have issued an open letter to the President of FYR Macedonia regarding the government’s recent draft law on Access to Information. The letter draws attention to the many gaps in the legislation, and calls for an immediate redrafting of the law. ARTICLE 19 reports. (26-JAN-06)
 

At a meeting held during the 6th African Union Summit in Khartoum, human rights activists and NGO representatives were interrogated, intimidated and detained by local security officers, according to reports by Justice Africa and ARTICLE 19. Statements issued by both organisations express a genuine concern for Sudan´s suitability to host the summit, and over its human rights record. Index on Censorship´s Sara Broderick reports (24-JAN-06).

For four years Guantanamo’s high profile obscured a far shadier world of US-sponsored interrogation chambers around the world. Only now is the world finally asking about the archipelago of US prisons around the world, and the fleet of CIA aircraft ferrying prisoners from one torture chamber to the next. Clive Stafford Smith reports for Index on Censorship (20-JAN-05)

The trial of Orhan Pamuk, right, the Turkish novelist due to go before a court on 16 December, has been delayed. The Instanbul judge presiding over the case said the prosecution could not go forth until it received approval from the ministry of justice. Photo of Pamuk: Matthias Zeininger. (16-DEC-05)
 

The British government should publish the minutes of a meeting where George Bush said he wanted to bomb the Arab satellite station al-Jazeera, regardless of the consequences, a tabloid journalist at the heart of the story has said. Index on Censorship’s Andrew Walker reports (08-DEC-05).