Author Archive
June 7, 2016
Radio Free Asia reported on 6 June 2016 that detained (on suspicion of “subversion of state power”) lawyer
Wang Yu was awarded the prestigious
Ludovic Trarieux Prize in Athens on Saturday. [for more info on award see:
http://www.brandsaviors.com/thedigest/award/ludovic-trarieux-international-human-rights-prize]. The jury said it wanted to “
hail the courage” of a woman who “
decided that she could no longer keep her mouth shut,” founder Bernard Favreau said. “
She chose to expose herself to dangers in order to defend the rights of women, children and persecuted minorities,” he told Agence France-Presse.
Wang’s attorney Wen Donghai welcomed the award. “They used a serious of objective criteria, for example, the fact that Wang Yu often gave legal assistance to clients from vulnerable groups,” Wen said. “This has nothing to do with any government, nor with diplomacy.” But he said the award is unlikely to help Wang’s case with the Chinese authorities. “I don’t hold out much hope of that, because our government has a very biased attitude to such prizes, and they see human rights groups as trying to interfere in China’s internal affairs,” Wen said. “In reality, rights groups aren’t targeting China, but trying to help victims and vulnerable people around the world.” Wang has unfortunately figured regularly in this blog: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/tag/wang-yu/
[The award comes as the families of dozens of rights lawyers detained on similar charges hit out at the government for denying the detainees access to their lawyers, and amid concerns that some detainees may have been tortured or sexually abused in police detention centers.]
On 5 June 2016, in a
joint letter Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, China Aid, Freedom House, Human Rights in China, Initiatives for China, International Campaign for Tibet, Reporters without Borders, Uyghur Human Rights Project, and World Uygur Congress – urged the US to:
- Meet with representatives of civil society in China during or immediately after the meeting;
- Press Chinese counterparts to repeal or bring into line with international law new national security laws, including the Counterterrorism and the Foreign Non-Governmental Management laws;
- Publicly call for the release of specific individuals detained for peacefully exercising their rights; and
- Publicly discuss US concerns about growing restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression and religion, among others.
In Hong Kong, protesters marched to Beijing’s Liaison Office in the former British colony on Monday, demanding an inquiry into the 2012 “suicide” death of Chinese labor rights activist Li Wangyang in police custody four years ago. Rights activist Ou Biaofeng said Li’s friends and relatives are under house arrest or close police surveillance on the anniversary of his death. “They are all under surveillance by the state security police, and are cooperating”
For the Lucovic-Trarieux prize 2015: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2015/06/14/saudi-arabian-human-rights-lawyer-waleed-abu-al-khair-wins-ludovic-trarieux-prize/
Source: Detained Chinese Lawyer Wins Award Amid Calls For Pressure on Human Rights
https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/06/05/us-show-breadth-rights-commitment-china-dialogue
Posted in awards, HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 4 Comments »
Tags: Agence France-Presse, China, digest of human rights awards, Foreign Policy of the USA, human rights awards, Human Rights Defenders, human rights lawyer, illegal detention, Li Wangyang, Ludovic Trarieux Prize, NGOs, Ou Biaofeng, Radio Free Asia, Wang Yu, Wen Donghai, woman human rights defender
June 7, 2016
The Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies is an interdisciplinary research centre of the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Leuven, Belgium, led by prof. Jan Wouters. It carries out and supports interdisciplinary research on topics related to globalisation, global governance processes and multilateralism, and has been recognised as a KU Leuven Centre of Excellence [http://ghum.kuleuven.be/ggs/].
It has just announced a new MOOC (Massive Open Online Course). The previous edition on ‘EU and Human Rights’ reached more than 8,000 students worldwide. Starting on 21 June 2016 and running for 6 weeks, the MOOC provides a basic course on human rights using FRAME research results, targeting undergraduate students and other people interested in the topic, such as international organizations and NGO staff. It will be offered free of charge and will include a collection of videos of lectures and teaching materials.
See also https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2015/06/19/the-moocs-are-coming-to-human-rights-education-thanks-to-ai-and-edx-partnering/
For more information and enrollment: https://www.edx.org/course/eu-human-rights-kuleuvenx-euhurix-0
Posted in films, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Belgium, EU, human rights teaching, Jan Wouters, lecture, Leuven, Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), MOOCs, on-line, training, video
June 7, 2016
Posted in books, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR, Protection International, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Business and human rights, Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, enabling environment, Geneva, guidelines, Human Rights Defenders, ICAR, ISHR, legal protection, national action plans (NAPs), Norway, Protection International, UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights
June 6, 2016
Hina Jilani will speak on the subject of “Protecting Human Rights Defenders Worldwide.” Ms Jilani, from Lahore in Pakistan, is a lawyer, civil rights activist, and an advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. She has been active in the movement for peace, human rights, and women’s rights in Pakistan for more than three decades and is internationally recognised for her expertise in critical human rights investigations. especially as the first UN rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders. The event will incorporate an interview with Ms Jilani and Mrs Robinson. The lecture is free of charge and open to the public. For more information or to reserve a seat visit www.maryrobinsoncentre.ie/events.
Source: International Human Rights Lecture 2016 – The Mary Robinson Centre – Ireland’s first Presidential Library
More posts about Hina Jilani: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/tag/hina-jilani/
She won the 2000 Ginetta Sagan award and the 2008 American Bar Association Human Rights Award.
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Hina Jilani, Human Rights Defenders, Ireland, lecture, Mary Robinson, Mary Robinson Centre, woman human rights defender
June 6, 2016
On 30th May 2016, the Extraordinary African Chambers declared Hissène Habré guilty of torture, crimes against humanity, war crimes and sexual crimes, perpetrated during his presidency of Tchad (Chad) between 1982 and 1990. The former Tchadian dictator has been sentenced to life in prison. Human rights organizations have hailed this verdict as “historical” and a victory for the thousands of victims who have fought for twenty years to make their voices heard and obtain justice before an impartial judiciary. They hope that it sends a strong signal to all perpetrators of international crimes. There are many sources but the two most active NGOs are probably: FIDH and its member organizations in Tchad and Senegal and Human Rights Watch (HRW). For more info on their views see the links below.
Explosion of happiness at the announcement of the verdict (source FIDH Facebook)
A summary of the decision was read out in court by chief judge Gberdao Gustave Kam of Burkina Faso, who shared the bench with two senior Senegalese judges. The written decision will be distributed at a later date, but on the Human Rights Watch site there is an unofficial summary from notes taken in court.
On 30 May 2016 the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights added its agreement: “After years of struggle and many setbacks on the way to justice, this verdict is as historic as it was hard-won. I sincerely hope that today, at last, Habré’s victims will experience some sense of relief,” Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said. “Following earlier convictions by other courts of former president Charles Taylor and Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, the conviction and sentencing of Hissène Habré shows that even heads of State and other leaders who commit terrible crimes will ultimately be held to account”.
HOWEVER, it is not over yet. The judges have until 31 July 31 2016 to approve measures of reparation for the victims.
———
https://www.fidh.org/en/region/Africa/chad/hissene-habre-case-a-historic-and-long-awaited-verdict-19999#
https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/05/30/chads-ex-dictator-convicted-atrocities
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=54088#.V1UbSYRptgc
http://www.martinennalsaward.org/?option=com_content&view=article&id=120&Itemid=135
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Chad, Extraordinary African Chambers, FIDH, Hissene Habre, HRW, impunity, international crimes, international justice, Jacqueline Moudeina, reparation, Tchad, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein
June 3, 2016
After more than eight years in the making, the documentary ‘The Cause of Progress’ will have its world première at the Sheffield international documentary festival on 11 June 2016. Preliminary versions of this film by Chris Kelly were shown in closed circles (see: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/09/16/documentary-the-rights-of-others-shows-human-rights-defenders-in-cambodia-against-evictions/) but it has now been finalised. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in films, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Cambodia, Chris Kelly, Documentary film, film festival, Human Rights Defenders, human rights film, land disputes, land rights defender, Luon Sovath, MEA laureate 2012, Sheffield film festival, The Cause of Progress, video monk
June 2, 2016
Samoa does not figure often in this blog. So, courtesy of the International Service for Human Rights (Monitor 2 May 2016), here is the profile of Tuisina Ymania Brown of the Samoa Fa’afafine Association which represents and promotes the rights of indigenous lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people in Samoa. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Tags: christians, cultural diversity, Fa'afafine, Fa’afatama, indigenous groups, ISHR, LGBTI, LGBTI Human Rights Defenders, profiles, Samoa, Samoa Fa’afafine Association, Sexual orientation, Transgender, Tuisina Ymania Brown, UPR, woman human rights defender
June 2, 2016
On its 35th Anniversary, Peace Brigades International is holding a conference to celebrate human rights defenders’ contributions to democracy and the rule of law, discuss their protection needs, and explore good practice and obstacles to enabling environments. Keynote speakers include the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, Michel Forst, human rights defenders from Latin America, Nepal and Kenya, UK government officials, NGOs, legal experts & donors There will be four panels:
1: Rule of Law: Uses and Abuses of the Law in relation to Human Rights Defenders
2: Access to Justice: Human Rights Defenders’ Fight for Justice
3: Business and Human Rights: Challenges and Developments
4: Strategies for Confronting Repressive Environments for Land and Environmental Rights Defenders
On Friday 17 June 2016, from 09:00 to 18:00 (BST) – at Canada House ,Trafalgar Square, London
For more information, tickets follow the link below:
Source: Building Enabling Environments for Human Rights Defenders at Risk Tickets, Fri, 17 Jun 2016 at 09:00 | Eventbrite
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: anniversary, Business and human rights, enabling environment, judicial harassment, land rights defender, legal restrictions, Michel Forst, PBI, Peace Brigades International, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
June 2, 2016
Imran Anjum is a human rights defender from the city of Sahiwal, Punjab province in Pakistan. He is the Founder and the Executive Director of Peaceful & Active Center for Humanity (PEACH), a non-governmental organisation working on the social and economic development of some of the most disadvantaged communities in Pakistan. Imran Anjum is directly involved in the provision of legal aid to people from these communities and carries out advocacy work on the rights of bonded labourers, including child labourers and brick kiln workers. Currently, PEACH is running a campaign across the Punjab province aimed at raising awareness among brick kiln workers about their rights.
On 20 May 2016, a group of brick kiln owners displayed banners around the city of Gojra, Punjab province, calling human rights defender Mr Imran Anjum ‘a blasphemer‘ and insisting on his execution. These threats follow an attack on 9 May 2016, when Imran Anjum, along with two of his colleagues, was travelling home to Sahiwal from a conference in Gojra devoted to the protection of the rights of brick kiln workers. Two people on motorbikes chased his car, forcibly stopped him, dragged him and his colleagues out of the vehicle and threatened them at gunpoint. They said that they would kill the human rights defender and his colleagues if they did not stop their labour rights work or if they went back to Gojra.
https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/case-history-imran-anjum
Posted in Front Line, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: blasphemy, brick kiln workers, death threats, economic and social rights, Front Line (NGO), Human Rights Defenders, Imran Anjum, labour rights, Pakistan, Peaceful & Active Center for Humanity (PEACH)
June 1, 2016
I have written several times about the worrying trends in the ‘obscure’ “ECOSOC Committee on NGOs” (https://thoolen.wordpress.com/tag/ecosoc/) which is supposed to consider applications by NGOs for ECOSOC accreditation and, as such, is a key gateway for NGOs to gain access to the UN. The International Service of Human Rights (ISHR) recently came out with a statement that the “practice of the Committee is wholly unacceptable and must change” (https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2016/05/04/ishr-starts-campaign-to-monitor-committee-that-throttles-ngo-access-to-the-un/). As if it was necessary to illustrate the bias of this UN NGO Committee against NGOs here are two recent cases decided on 26 May 2016: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Human Rights Defenders, ISHR, UN | 1 Comment »
Tags: accredited NGOs, Ban Ki-moon, Committee to Protect Journalists, ECOSOC, freedom of association, International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN), ISHR, NGO Committee, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Rupert Colville, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 