<p>On the eve of the 9th World Day Against the Death Penalty, Reporters Without Borders and the Paris-based NGO Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) would like to point out that being a journalist, editing a website or keeping a blog can still expose a person to the possibility of the death penalty in some countries.</p>

<p>In the wake of today&rsquo;s announcement that this year&rsquo;s Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded jointly to Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee and Yemeni rights activist <strong>Tawakkul Karman</strong>, Reporters Without Borders urges the laureates to press the Chinese government to free <a target="_blank" href="http://en.rsf.org/china-free-speech-activist-liu-xiaobo-08-10-2010,38516.html">last year&rsquo;s winner of the award</a>,<strong> Liu Xiaobo</strong>.</p>

<p><font face="Arial"><b>The 9th World Day against the Death Penalty will focus on the inhumanity of the death penalty. Since 2003, abolitionists have taken actions all over the world every 10 October to raise awareness and opposition to the death penalty. This year, to mark the World Day against the Death Penalty, hundreds of events have been organized around the globe. To see the complete program of scheduled events, visit: <a target="_blank" href="http://www.worldcoalition.org/worldday">www.worldcoalition.org/<wbr></wbr>worldday</a></b></font></p>

<p>With the conspicuous absence of input from the US, representatives of a dozen countries including France, Germany, the UK and Australia have recommended that the Thai government amend the lese majeste law to bring the country's level of freedom of expression in line with international standards.</p>

<p>(Hong Kong, October 6, 2011) The killers of thousands of persons during the &quot;war on drugs&quot; conducted in Thailand from 2003 to 2005 continue to enjoy impunity for their crimes over six years on, a relative of one teenage victim of extrajudicial killing said at the United Nations (UN) in Geneva on Monday.</p>

<p>On 16 September 2011, at 5am, police and army officers searched the house of Mr. Ni-seh Ni-ha, who is the older brother of Mr. Ni-seng Ni-ha, the petitioner, and who resides at 32/5 Moo 3 Thalu-bo sub-district, Pattani province. The officials did not present a warrant of any kind. They took Mr. Ni-seh Ni-ha into custody and took him to an army camp in the area of the Pattani electrical plant, on Pattani-Yala Road in Pattani province. Then, at approximately 9am, the army officials took Mr. Ni-seh Ni-heh to be detained at Inkayuthboriharn Camp in Nong Chik district in Pattani province.</p>

<p>On 4 October 2011, Front Line Defenders along with nine other international digital freedom and human rights organisations submitted a joint letter to H.E. Nguyen Tan Dung, the Prime Minister of Vietnam calling for the release of human rights defender Mr Pham Minh Hoang, who was sentenced to three years imprisonment on 10 August 2011.</p>

<p>The week-long Vegetarian Food Festival, which comes to an end today [4 Oct], should have shed some light on the plight of animals that are advertised as being &quot;happy&quot; to be consumed.</p>

<p>&quot;Land rights are the first building block on the road to achieving food security, and without international consensus on how land should be governed, the interests of vulnerable land users will continue to be swept aside.&quot;</p>

<p>There are stark differences between a government report on violence in the deep South and reports submitted by non-government groups for the first-ever Universal Periodic Review (UPR) that Thailand will face, at the United Nations' Human Rights Council in Geneva tomorrow.</p>

<p><em>Government report on state of several issues like lese majeste differs from those submitted by local NGOs</em></p> <p>This is the first of a two-part report comparing different versions of Thailand's first-ever Universal Periodic Review report on the human-rights situation here, which will be discussed at the UN's Human Rights Council in Geneva on Wednesday.</p>

<p><em>Civil Society Says New Government&rsquo;s Priorities Should Include Accession to Rome Statute</em></p> <p>New York, USA/ Bangkok, Thailand &ndash; The Coalition for the International Criminal Court today [3 Oct] called on Thailand to demonstrate its commitment to the global fight against impunity by acceding to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC)&mdash;the world&rsquo;s first and only permanent international court able to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Thailand is the focus of the Coalition&rsquo;s Universal Ratification Campaign (URC) for October 2011, a campaign launched to call upon a different country each month to join the Rome Statute&mdash;the ICC&rsquo;s founding treaty.</p>