One year ago, in a groundbreaking speech, you declared the "freedom to connect" to be a Fifth Freedom, as important to human liberty as the Four Freedoms Franklin D. Roosevelt championed 70 years ago this month. The Internet will be what we make of it, you said, and you challenged governments and companies alike to ensure that a person' s access to information and opinion does not depend on where she lives.

The United States should press for greater transparency and accountability in the global financial system at the G20 Summit meeting in Seoul, a coalition of civil society organizations said today. The G20 Advocacy Coalition brings together varied organizations that share the view that increased transparency is essential to promoting economic development, alleviating poverty, and realizing enjoyment of economic and social rights.

It was not surprising that last week Stephen Harper's government defeated a modest opposition private member's bill that offered an opportunity to improve the human rights records of Canadian oil, mining and gas companies. But the apparently ambiguous stance of opposition leader Michael Ignatieff on the bill came as a surprise to many -- and leaves him with some explaining to do.

The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme should not allow further exports from the Marange diamond fields in Zimbabwe until the government makes clear progress in ending abuses and smuggling. Participants in the scheme, an international body that oversees the diamond trade, are scheduled to meet in Jerusalem from November 1 to 4, 2010.

The UNESCO Executive Committee meeting at the organization's headquarters in Paris soon will have to make a decision about a very controversial Prize, the UNESCO-Teodoro Obiang Award for the protection of life. This prize is funded by Obiang, for 31 years the dictatorial President of Equatorial Guinea, who is trying to use Unesco's values and reputation to improve his international image. In June, UNESCO postponed an award ceremony after an international uproar over the planned "dictator prize."

Human Rights Watch welcomes the Human Rights Council’s review of Equatorial Guinea in December 2009 and its March 2010 adoption of the UPR report. As one of several human rights defenders from Equatorial Guinea stated before this body in March, “We cannot afford the luxury of letting these recommendations become window-dressing for the Equatorial Guinea government.”

Many European companies that publicly embrace workers' rights under global labor standards nevertheless undermine workers' rights in their US operations, Human Rights Watch said in a report issued today.