By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront A s the 2018 general election approached in Cambodia, concerns over political openness intensified. Critics of Prime Minister Hun Sen and the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) argued that the electoral environment had become increasingly restrictive, with authority concentrated around the executive and growing influence exerted over key state institutions, including the judiciary, security apparatus and media. These concerns were not merely rhetorical. The closure of The Cambodia Daily in September 2017, the expulsion of the United States-based National Democratic Institute (NDI), and sustained pressure on independent radio stations broadcasting Radio Free Asia and Voice of America programming were widely documented by international observers as evidence of a broader contraction of civic space. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders all reported a sustained pattern of legal and administrative pressure directe...

By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront A harrowing news came from the Balkans in September 2017. Bosnian Missing Person Institute has found at least 137 clusters of bones, including 86 skulls of human remains on the cliffs of Vlasic Mountain, around the town of Travnik in Bosnia. It is believed to be one of the biggest mass gravesites found in Bosnia and Herzegovina until now. These remains are possibly of the Bosnian Muslims and Croats who died at the hands of Bosnian Serb Police known as ‘Red Berets’ during the Bosnian War in the 1990s. Although the perpetrators of this ethnic cleansing campaign were convicted by the country’s tribunal for a lifelong imprisonment, the people associated with the dead ones are still seeking justice because they have not been able to find the remains of their family members who had just vanished after the war. The investigators had found that the remains were found at the bottom of the cave and were covered with an enormous amo...

Photo source: DW By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront Catalonia, a northeastern region of Spain, wants to bid Spain adieu. Draped in red, yellow and blue separatist flags, many people held placards which read’ Goodbye Spain’ in the marches. It is because they like to call themselves Catalans rather than Spaniards. But, the government in Madrid wants to block the referendum for independence that is scheduled on coming October 1st, 2017. Thats why, many Catalan youths, from different backgrounds, planned for more mass mobilisation around central Barcelona. Wikileaks has recently published an inside story where they had accused Spanish intelligence services and the government calling for moves against the referendum. Its founder, Julian Assange, strongly favours the referendum. There are reactions coming from everywhere in Spain. Several opposition parties in Catalonia like the Popular Party and Catalan Socialist Party have vowed not to participate in the referendum process. M...

Photo Source: Internations.org By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront E ast African nations are the most recent countries to join diplomatic protests against Qatar, as the crises enter the fourth month since June 2017. The emirate in the Gulf Region continues to get affected economically . The Horn of Africa including Senegal, Chad, Niger and Mauritania have severed ties with Qatar, many of them recalling their ambassadors. They have joined the diplomatic isolation along with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait and UAE, who have restricted Qatar for using their air space, land border and waters. These countries in Horn of Africa have joined the gulf nations in terms of collective solidarity. Although, Somalia has offered help to meditate on the crises as well. The diplomatic consequences seem to be causing a great fear in international trade for Qatar, which holds third largest proven reserves of natural gas in the world and is currently bidding for more infrastructural development ...