strategic location along southern approaches to
Strait of Hormuz, a vital transit point for world crude oil
United Kingdom
lies near vital North Atlantic sea lanes; only 35 km
from France and linked by tunnel under the English Channel; because
of heavily indented coastline, no location is more than 125 km from
tidal waters
United States
world's third-largest country by size (after Russia
and Canada) and by population (after China and India); Mt. McKinley
is highest point in North America and Death Valley the lowest point
on the continent
United States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges
Baker, Howland, and
Jarvis Islands: scattered vegetation consisting of grasses,
prostrate vines, and low growing shrubs; primarily a nesting,
roosting, and foraging habitat for seabirds, shorebirds, and marine
wildlife; closed to the public
Johnston Atoll: Johnston Island and Sand Island are natural islands,
which have been expanded by coral dredging; North Island (Akau) and
East Island (Hikina) are manmade islands formed from coral dredging;
the egg-shaped reef is 34 km in circumference; closed to the public
Kingman Reef: barren coral atoll with deep interior lagoon; closed
to the public
Midway Islands: a coral atoll managed as a NWR and open to the
public for wildlife-related recreation in the form of wildlife
observation and photography
Palmyra Atoll: the high rainfall and resulting lush vegetation make
the environment of this atoll unique among the US Pacific Island
territories; supports a large undisturbed stand of Pisonia beach
forest
Uruguay
second-smallest South American country (after Suriname);
most of the low-lying landscape (three-quarters of the country) is
grassland, ideal for cattle and sheep raising
Uzbekistan
along with Liechtenstein, one of the only two doubly
landlocked countries in the world
Vanuatu
a Y-shaped chain of four main islands and 80 smaller
islands; several of the islands have active volcanoes
Venezuela
on major sea and air routes linking North and South
America; Angel Falls in the Guiana Highlands is the world's highest
waterfall
Vietnam
extending 1,650 km north to south, the country is only 50 km
across at its narrowest point
Virgin Islands
important location along the Anegada Passage - a key
shipping lane for the Panama Canal; Saint Thomas has one of the best
natural deepwater harbors in the Caribbean
Wake Island
strategic location in the North Pacific Ocean; emergency
landing location for transpacific flights
Wallis and Futuna
both island groups have fringing reefs
West Bank
landlocked; highlands are main recharge area for Israel's
coastal aquifers; there are about 340 Israeli civilian sites -
including 100 small outpost communities in the West Bank and 29
sites in East Jerusalem (July 2008 est.)
Western Sahara
the waters off the coast are particularly rich
fishing areas
World
the world is now thought to be about 4.55 billion years old,
just about one-third of the 13.7-billion-year age estimated for the
universe
Yemen
strategic location on Bab el Mandeb, the strait linking the
Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, one of world's most active shipping
lanes
Zambia
landlocked; the Zambezi forms a natural riverine boundary
with Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
landlocked; the Zambezi forms a natural riverine boundary
with Zambia; in full flood (February-April) the massive Victoria
Falls on the river forms the world's largest curtain of falling water
======================================================================
@2115
Field Listing :: Political pressure groups and leaders
This entry includes a listing of a country's political, social,
labor, or religious organizations that are involved in politics, or
that exert political pressure, but whose leaders do not stand for
legislative election. International movements or organizations are
generally not listed.
Country
Political pressure groups and leaders
Afghanistan
other: religious groups; tribal leaders; ethnically
based groups
Albania
Citizens Advocacy Office [Kreshnik SPAHIU]; Confederation of
Trade Unions of Albania or KSSH [Kastriot MUCO]; Front for Albanian
National Unification or FBKSH [Gafur ADILI]; Mjaft Movement; Omonia
[Jani JANI]; Union of Independent Trade Unions of Albania or BSPSH
[Gezim KALAJA]
Algeria
The Algerian Human Rights League or LADDH [Hocine ZEHOUANE];
SOS Disparus [Nacera DUTOUR]
American Samoa
Population Pressure LAS (addresses the growing
population pressures)
Andorra
NA
Angola
Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda or FLEC
[N'zita Henriques TIAGO, Antonio Bento BEMBE]
note: FLEC's small-scale armed struggle for the independence of
Cabinda Province persists despite the signing of a peace accord with
the government in August 2006
Anguilla
NA
Antigua and Barbuda
Antigua Trades and Labor Union or ATLU [William
ROBINSON]; People's Democratic Movement or PDM [Hugh MARSHALL]
Argentina
Argentine Association of Pharmaceutical Labs (CILFA);
Argentine Industrial Union (manufacturers' association); Argentine
Rural Confederation or CRA (small to medium landowners'
association); Argentine Rural Society (large landowners'
association); Central of Argentine Workers or CTA (a radical union
for employed and unemployed workers); General Confederation of Labor
or CGT (Peronist-leaning umbrella labor organization); White and
Blue CGT (dissident CGT labor confederation); Roman Catholic Church
other: business organizations; Peronist-dominated labor movement;
Piquetero groups (popular protest organizations that can be either
pro or anti-government); students
Armenia
Aylentrank (Impeachment) [Nikol PASHINIAN]; Yerkrapah Union
[Manvel GRIGORIAN]
Aruba
other: environmental groups
Australia
other: business groups; environmental groups; social
groups; trade unions
Austria
Austrian Trade Union Federation or OeGB (nominally
independent but primarily Social Democratic); Federal Economic
Chamber; OeVP-oriented Association of Austrian Industrialists or IV;
Roman Catholic Church, including its chief lay organization,
Catholic Action
other: three composite leagues of the Austrian People's Party or
OeVP representing business, labor, farmers, and other nongovernment
organizations in the areas of environment and human rights
Azerbaijan
Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (self-proclaimed);
Karabakh Liberation Organization; Sadval, Lezgin movement; Talysh
independence movement; Union of Pro-Azerbaijani Forces or UPAF
Bahamas, The
Friends of the Environment
other: trade unions
Bahrain
Shia activists; Sunni Islamist legislators
other: several small leftist and other groups are active
Bangladesh
Advocacy to End Gender-based Violence through the MoWCA
(Ministry of Women's and Children's Affairs)
other: environmentalists; Islamist groups; religious leaders;
teachers; union leaders
Barbados
Barbados Secondary Teachers' Union or BSTU [Patrick FROST];
Barbados Union of Teachers or BUT [Herbert GITTENS]; Congress of
Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados or CTUSAB, (includes
the BWU, NUPW, BUT, and BSTU) [Leroy TROTMAN]; Barbados Workers
Union or BWU [Leroy TROTMAN]; Clement Payne Labor Union [David
COMISSIONG]; National Union of Public Workers [Joseph GODDARD]
Belarus
Assembly of Pro-Democratic NGOs [Sergey MATSKEVICH];
Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions [Aleksandr YAROSHUK];
Belarusian Helsinki Committee [Tatiana PROTKO]; Belarusian
Organization of Working Women [Irina ZHIKHAR]; BPF-Youth [Franak
VYACHORKA]; Charter 97 [Andrey SANNIKOV]; For Freedom [Aleksandr
MILINKEVICH]; Lenin Communist Union of Youth (youth wing of the
Belarusian Party of Communists or PKB); National Strike Committee of
Entrepreneurs [Aleksandr VASILYEV, Valery LEVONEVSKY]; Partnership
NGO [Nikolay ASTREYKA]; Perspektiva kiosk watchdog NGO [Anatol
SHUMCHENKO]; Vyasna [Ales BYALATSKY]; Women's Independent Democratic
Movement [Ludmila PETINA]; Young Belarus (Malady Belarus) [Artur
FINKEVICH]; Youth Front (Malady Front) [Dmitriy DASHKEVICH]; Zubr
youth group [Vladimir KOBETS]
Belgium
Christian, Socialist, and Liberal Trade Unions; Federation
of Belgian Industries
other: numerous other associations representing bankers,
manufacturers, middle-class artisans, and the legal and medical
professions; various organizations represent the cultural interests
of Flanders and Wallonia; various peace groups such as Pax Christi
and groups representing immigrants
Belize
Society for the Promotion of Education and Research or SPEAR
[Gustavo PERERA]; Association of Concerned Belizeans or ACB [David
VASQUEZ]; National Trade Union Congress of Belize or NTUC/B [Rene
GOMEZ]
Benin
other: economic groups; environmentalists; political groups;
teachers' unions and other educational groups
Bermuda
Bermuda Employer's Union [Eddie SAINTS]; Bermuda Industrial
Union or BIU [Derrick BURGESS]; Bermuda Public Services Union or
BPSU [Ed BALL]; Bermuda Union of Teachers [Michael CHARLES]
Bhutan
United Front for Democracy (exiled); Druk National Congress
(exiled)
other: Buddhist clergy; ethnic Nepalese organizations leading
militant antigovernment campaign; Indian merchant community
Bolivia
Sole Confederation of Campesino Workers of Bolivia or CSUTCB
other: Cocalero groups; indigenous organizations; labor unions
Bosnia and Herzegovina
other: displaced persons associations;
student councils; war veterans
Botswana
First People of the Kalahari (Bushman organization); Pitso
Ya Ba Tswana; Society for the Promotion of Ikalanga Language
(Kalanga elites)
other: diamond mining companies
Brazil
Landless Workers' Movement or MST
other: labor unions and federations; large farmers' associations;
religious groups including evangelical Christian churches and the
Catholic Church
British Virgin Islands
The Family Support Network; The Women's Desk
other: environmentalists
Brunei
NA
Bulgaria
Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria or
CITUB; Podkrepa Labor Confederation
other: numerous regional, ethnic, and national interest groups with
various agendas
Burkina Faso
Burkinabe General Confederation of Labor or CGTB [Tole
SAGNON]; Burkinabe Movement for Human Rights or MBDHP [Chrysigone
ZOUGMORE]; Group of 14 February [Benewende STANISLAS]; National
Confederation of Burkinabe Workers or CNTB [Laurent OUEDRAOGO];
National Organization of Free Unions or ONSL [Paul KABORE]
other: watchdog/political action groups throughout the country in
both organizations and communities
Burma
Ethnic Nationalities Council or ENC (based in Thailand);
Federation of Trade Unions-Burma or FTUB (exile trade union and
labor advocates); National Coalition Government of the Union of
Burma or NCGUB (self-proclaimed government in exile) ["Prime
Minister" Dr. SEIN WIN] consists of individuals, some legitimately
elected to the People's Assembly in 1990 (the group fled to a border
area and joined insurgents in December 1990 to form parallel
government in exile); Kachin Independence Organization or KIO; Karen
National Union or KNU; Karenni National People's Party or KNPP;
National Council-Union of Burma or NCUB (exile coalition of
opposition groups); United Wa State Army or UWSA; Union Solidarity
and Development Association or USDA (pro-regime, a social and
political mass-member organization) [HTAY OO, general secretary]; 88
Generation Students (pro-democracy movement) [TOE KYAW HLAING]
other: several Shan factions
Burundi
Observatoire de lutte contre la corruption et les
malversations economiques or OLUCOME [Gabriel RUFYIRI]
(anti-corruption pressure group)
other: Hutu and Tutsi militias (loosely organized)
Cambodia
Cambodian Freedom Fighters or CFF; Partnership for
Transparency Fund or PTF (anti-corruption organization); Students
Movement for Democracy; The Committee for Free and Fair Elections or
Comfrel
other: human rights organizations; vendors
Cameroon
Human Rights Defense Group [Albert MUKONG, president];
Southern Cameroon National Council [Ayamba Ette OTUN]
Canada
other: agricultural sector; automobile industry; business
groups; chemical industry; commercial banks; communications sector;
energy industry; environmentalists; public administration groups;
steel industry; trade unions
Cape Verde
other: environmentalists; political pressure groups
Cayman Islands
National Trust
other: environmentalists
Central African Republic
Monam (combating gender-base violence)
Chad
rebel groups
Chile
Roman Catholic Church, particularly conservative groups such
as Opus Dei; United Labor Central or CUT includes trade unionists
from the country's five largest labor confederations
other: revitalized university student federations at all major
universities
China
the China Democracy Party; the Falungong spiritual movement
note: no substantial political opposition groups exist, although the
government has identified the organizations listed above as
subversive groups
Christmas Island
none
Cocos (Keeling) Islands
The Cocos Islands Youth Support Centre
Colombia
National Liberation Army or ELN; Revolutionary Armed Forces
of Colombia or FARC
note: two largest insurgent groups active in Colombia
Comoros
other: environmentalists
Congo, Democratic Republic of the
MONUC - UN organization working
with the government; FARDC (Forces Armees de la Republique
Democratique du Congo) - Army of the Democratic Republic of the
Congo which commits atrocities on citizens; FDLA (Forces
Democratiques de Liberation du Rwanda) - Rwandan militia group
Congo, Republic of the
Congolese Trade Union Congress or CSC;
General Union of Congolese Pupils and Students or UGEEC;
Revolutionary Union of Congolese Women or URFC; Union of Congolese
Socialist Youth or UJSC
Cook Islands
Reform Conference (lobby for political system changes)
other: various groups lobbying for political change
Costa Rica
Authentic Confederation of Democratic Workers or CATD
(Communist Party affiliate); Chamber of Coffee Growers; Confederated
Union of Workers or CUT (Communist Party affiliate); Costa Rican
Confederation of Democratic Workers or CCTD (Liberation Party
affiliate); Costa Rican Exporter's Chamber or CADEXCO; Costa Rican
Solidarity Movement; Costa Rican Union of Private Sector Enterprises
or UCCAEP [Rafael CARRILLO]; Federation of Public Service Workers or
FTSP; National Association for Economic Development or ANFE;
National Association of Educators or ANDE; National Association of
Public and Private Employees or ANEP [Albino VARGAS]; Rerum Novarum
or CTRN (PLN affiliate) [Gilbert BROWN]
Cote d'Ivoire
Federation of University and High School Students of
Cote d'Ivoire or FESCI [Serges KOFFI]; Rally of Houphouetists for
Democracy and Peace or RHDP [Alphonse DJEDJE MADY]; Young Patriots
[Charles BLE GOUDE]
Croatia
other: human rights groups
Cuba
Human Rights Watch; National Association of Small Farmers
Cyprus
Confederation of Cypriot Workers or SEK (pro-West);
Confederation of Revolutionary Labor Unions or Dev-Is; Federation of
Turkish Cypriot Labor Unions or Turk-Sen; Pan-Cyprian Labor
Federation or PEO (Communist controlled)
Czech Republic
Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions or CMKOS
[Milan STECH]
Denmark
Danish Free Press Society (freedom of speech); Danish
National Socialist Movement or DNSB [Jonni HANSEN] (neo-Nazi
organization)
other: human rights groups
Djibouti
Union for Presidential Majority UMP (coalition includes
RPP, FRUD, PPSD and PND); Union for Democratic Changeover or UAD
(opposition coalition includes ARD, MRDD, and UDJ)
Dominica
Dominica Liberation Movement or DLM (a small leftist party)
Dominican Republic
Citizen Participation Group (Participacion
Ciudadania); Collective of Popular Organizations or COP; Foundation
for Institution-Building and Justice (FINJUS)
Ecuador
Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador or
CONAIE [Marlon SANTI, president]; Coordinator of Social Movements or
CMS [F. Napoleon SANTOS]; Federation of Indigenous Evangelists of
Ecuador or FEINE [Marco MURILLO, president]; National Federation of
Indigenous Afro-Ecuatorianos and Peasants or FENOCIN [Pedro DE LA
CRUZ, president]
Egypt
Muslim Brotherhood (technically illegal)
note: despite a constitutional ban against religious-based parties
and political activity, the technically illegal Muslim Brotherhood
constitutes Hosni MUBARAK's potentially most significant political
opposition; MUBARAK has alternated between tolerating limited
political activity by the Brotherhood (its members, who ran as
independents, hold 88 seats in the People's Assembly) and blocking
its influence; civic society groups are sanctioned, but constrained
in practical terms; only trade unions and professional associations
affiliated with the government are officially sanctioned; Internet
social networking groups and bloggers
El Salvador
labor organizations - Electrical Industry Union of El
Salvador or SIES; Federation of the Construction Industry, Similar
Transport and other activities, or FESINCONTRANS; National
Confederation of Salvadoran Workers or CNTS; National Union of
Salvadoran Workers or UNTS; Port Industry Union of El Salvador or
SIPES; Salvadoran Union of Ex-Petrolleros and Peasant Workers or
USEPOC; Salvadoran Workers Central or CTS; Workers Union of
Electrical Corporation or STCEL; business organizations - National
Association of Small Enterprise or ANEP; Salvadoran Assembly
Industry Association or ASIC; Salvadoran Industrial Association or
ASI
Equatorial Guinea
ASODEGUE (Madrid-based pressure group for
democratic reform); Global Witness (anti-corruption)
Eritrea
Eritrean Democratic Party (EDP) [HAGOS, Mesfin]; Eritrean
Islamic Jihad or EIJ (includes Eritrean Islamic Jihad Movement or
EIJM also known as the Abu Sihel Movement); Eritrean Islamic
Salvation or EIS (also known as the Arafa Movement); Eritrean
Liberation Front or ELF [ABDULLAH Muhammed]; Eritrean National
Alliance or ENA (a coalition including EIJ, EIS, ELF, and a number
of ELF factions) [HERUY Tedla Biru]; Eritrean Public Forum or EPF
[ARADOM Iyob]
Estonia
Nochnoy Dozor/Night Watch anti-fascist movement (leader
Alexander KOROBOV)
Ethiopia
Ethiopian People's Patriotic Front or EPPF; Ogaden National
Liberation Front or ONLF; Oromo Liberation Front or OLF [DAOUD Ibsa]
Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)
Falkland Islands Association
(supports freedom of the people from external causes)
Faroe Islands
Sea Shepard [Paul WATSON] (preservation of small
whales)
other: conservationists
Fiji
Group Against Racial Discrimination or GARD [Dr. Anirudk SINGH]
(for restoration of a democratic government); Viti Landowners
Association
France
Confederation Francaise Democratique du Travail or CFDT,
left-leaning labor union with approximately 803,000 members;
Confederation Generale des Cadres or CGC, independent white-collar
union with 196,000 members; Confederation Generale du Travail or
CGT, historically communist labor union with approximately 700,000
members; Confederation Generale du Travail - Force Ouvriere or FO,
independent labor union with an estimated 300,000 members; Mouvement
des Entreprises de France or MEDEF, employers' union with 750,000
companies as members (claimed)
French Guiana: conservationists; gold mining pressure groups;
hunting pressure groups
Guadeloupe: Christian Movement for the Liberation of Guadeloupe or
KLPG; General Federation of Guadeloupe Workers or CGT-G; General
Union of Guadeloupe Workers or UGTG; Movement for an Independent
Guadeloupe or MPGI; The Socialist Renewal Movement
Martinique: Caribbean Revolutionary Alliance or ARC; Central Union
for Martinique Workers or CSTM; Frantz Fanon Circle; League of
Workers and Peasants; Proletarian Action Group or GAP
Reunion: NA
French Polynesia
NA
Gabon
NA
Gambia, The
National Environment Agency or NEA; West African Peace
Building Network-Gambian Chapter or WANEB-GAMBIA; Youth Employment
Network Gambia or YENGambia
other: special needs group advocates; teachers and principals
Georgia
separatists in the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South
Ossetia
Germany
other: business associations and employers' organizations;
religious, trade unions, immigrant, expellee, and veterans groups
Ghana
Christian Aid (water rights); Committee for Joint Action or
CJA (education reform); National Coalition Against the Privatization
of Water or CAP (water rights); Oxfam (water rights); Public Citizen
(water rights); Students Coalition Against EPA [Kwabena Ososukene
OKAI] (education reform); Third World Network (education reform)
Gibraltar
Chamber of Commerce; Gibraltar Representatives
Organization; Women's Association
Greece
Civil Servants Confederation or ADEDY [Spyros PAPASPYROS];
Federation of Greek Industries or SEV [Dimitris DASKALOPOULOS];
General Confederation of Greek Workers or GSEE [Ioannis PANAGOPOULOS]
Greenland
other: conservationists; environmentalists
Grenada
Committee for Human Rights in Grenada or CHRG; New Jewel
Movement Support Group; The British Grenada Friendship Society; The
New Jewel 19 Committee
Guam
Guam Federation of Teachers' Union; Guam Waterworks Authority
Workers
other: activists; indigenous groups
Guatemala
Agrarian Owners Group or UNAGRO; Alliance Against Impunity
or AAI; Committee for Campesino Unity or CUC; Coordinating Committee
of Agricultural, Commercial, Industrial, and Financial Associations
or CACIF; Mutual Support Group or GAM
Guernsey
Stop Traffic Endangering Pedestrian Safety or STEPS; No
More Masts [Colin FALLAIZE]
Guinea
National Confederation of Guinean Workers-Labor Union of
Guinean Workers or CNTG-USTG Alliance (includes National
Confederation of Guinean Workers or CNTG [Rabiatou Sarah DIALLO] and
Labor Union of Guinean Workers or USTG [Dr. Ibrahima FOFANA]);
National Council of Civil Society Organizations of Guinea or CNOSCG
[Ben Sekou SYLLA]; Syndicate of Guinean Teachers and Researchers or
SLECG [Dr. Louis M'Bemba SOUMAH]
Guinea-Bissau
NA
Guyana
Amerindian People's Association; Guyana Bar Association;
Guyana Citizens Initiative; Guyana Human Rights Association; Guyana
Public Service Union or GPSU; Private Sector Commission; Trades
Union Congress
Haiti
Autonomous Organizations of Haitian Workers or CATH [Fignole
ST-CYR]; Confederation of Haitian Workers or CTH; Federation of
Workers Trade Unions or FOS; General Organization of Independent
Haitian Workers [Patrick NUMAS]; Grand-Anse Resistance Committee, or
KOREGA; National Popular Assembly or APN; Papaye Peasants Movement
or MPP [Chavannes JEAN-BAPTISTE]; Popular Organizations Gathering
Power or PROP; Protestant Federation of Haiti; Roman Catholic Church
Holy See (Vatican City)
none (exclusive of influence exercised by
church officers)
Honduras
Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras or
CODEH; Confederation of Honduran Workers or CTH; Coordinating
Committee of Popular Organizations or CCOP; General Workers
Confederation or CGT; Honduran Council of Private Enterprise or
COHEP; National Association of Honduran Campesinos or ANACH;
National Union of Campesinos or UNC; Popular Bloc or BP; United
Confederation of Honduran Workers or CUTH