The United States and its allies created the zones in northern and southern Iraq after the Persian Gulf war to protect Iraqi ethnic groups facing repression from President Saddam Hussein.
The zones were created in 1991 in the north and a year later in the south to protect ethnic and religious groups facing repression from Mr. Hussein's forces.
I am just one of the many political activists in Russia who face repression.
Today, the Saharawi people face repression, violence and imprisonment if they dare to demand their rights.
In short, Kosovar Albanians facing repression and violence from Slobodan Milosevic's forces in Serbia created an army, won the support of the outside world in the form of a NATO bombing campaign and are now, in effect, independent of Serbia, under United Nations administration.
Of course, the years since the early phase of the uprising have seen intense militarisation and internationalisation in the face of brutal repression from President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
Activists for villagers' rights and the environment have faced repression.
Reporters have long faced repression in Belarus, where President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko has governed since 1994.
"They realize that they are political prisoners, activists who are facing repression".
He himself faced repression under the communist regime after his family requested a permit to leave the GDR legally.
