Women's, Human Rights Groups Use Internet to Fight Abuses

Next week, international human rights activist Jean-Paul Marthoz of Human Rights Watch will address an "Outlook for Freedom" conference in Budapest about the many ways that non-governmental organizations, women's rights, and human rights organizations are using the Web to educate and inform citizens about human rights abuses.

"By jumping over borders, by opening cheap access to information, and by providing forums for debate in countries where the media are monopolized, the Internet offers the disenfranchised a chance to participate."

The Feminist Majority has created a "Stop Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan" Web site that educates, informs, and mobilizes people to protest the Taliban's repression of Afghan women. Afghanistan Women's Association International is also dedicated to educating the public about the Taliban's abuses.

Human Rights Watch has publicized widespread attacks against ethnic Chinese women in Indonesia on its Web site, www.hrw.org.

For information on how governments have attempted to censor their citizens' access to the internet, see http://www.oneworld.org/news/by_theme/index.html.

Media Resources: Guardian - August 27, 1998

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