Irish Examiner  view: Let’s protect our great privilege

The death of Belarusian activist Vitaly Shishov is a reminder of how vulnerable are those who challenge dictatorships. Picture: Human Rights Center Viasna via AP

One of the distressing gaps in our world is between those of us lucky enough to live where the rule of law prevails and the billions of citizens in settings where autocratic regimes use force to secure their position.

It may seem disproportionate to point to an event in Hong Kong last week when a man was arrested on suspicion of insulting the Chinese national anthem but under a law passed in June, the man faces up to nine years in prison. Despite that, his prospects seem considerably better than those faced by the more than a million Uighur men or women detained in a sprawling network of camps, which China calls "re-education" centres.