ACTION ALERTS
:: ACTION ALERT: Pakistan hostage crisis
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has begun a three-day visit to Pakistan as a hostage crisis is unfolding near the city of Hyderabad. Time Magazine reports this week that scores of bonded-labor slaves are being held at gunpoint after going to court to win their freedom. Slaveholders are threatening to kill the hostages unless they drop their court cases. Some of the hostages are children. One hostage has reportedly been killed.
Please urge Secretary Clinton to use her influence with Pakistani officials to secure the release of the hostages.
Call the U.S. State Department in Washington today: 202-647-6575, Extension 1.
Read full details of the hostage crisis in Time Magazine. The article was written by E. Benjamin Skinner, a long-time supporter of Free the Slaves.
:: Emergency action: protect a human rights defender
Artists for Human Rights is taking a supporting stance to help Kerry Kennedy with his campaign to protect human rights attorney Paul Muite in Kenya. We ask that you go to the link below to find out more and lend your voice to this important issue.
We would like to add our voices to Kerry Kennedy's and ask that every measure be taken to ensure the safety and security of Mr. Paul Muite and that those threatening Mr. Muite be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
http://www.rfkcenter.org/paulmuite
:: Letter from Mu Sochua, Human Rights Advocate, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and an Elected MP
Your help is urgently needed!
News has reached us that the Cambodian government is taking steps to imprison Mu Sochua.
Mu Sochua is an elected member of the Cambodian parliament and a tireless advocate for women's rights and the victims of injustice. In 2005, Mu Sochua was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for her work against sex trafficking of women in Cambodia and neighboring Thailand. Vital Voices honored Mu Sochua with the 2005 Human Rights Global Leadership Award for her efforts to stem the tide of human trafficking. To highlight her work Mu Sochua was profiled in the documentary play Seven.
Please Share this letter from Mu Sochua far and wide and spread the word about her struggle so we can keep her out of prison for speaking out against corruption and injustice in Cambodia.