Author Archive
March 2, 2016
DefendDefenders (East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project) together with the many NGOs, whose logos are shown above, will host the side event “Crisis in Burundi: Implementing Sustainable Solutions” on 4 March 2016 (15h00 – 17h00), Room XXIV, Palais des Nations, Geneva.
Panelists:
- Michel Forst, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights Defenders
- Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, President of APRODH (and Laureate MEA 2007)
- Tom Gibson, Representative for Burundi and DRC at Protection International
Moderator:
- Hassan Shire, Executive Director of East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project.
The situation in Burundi is terrible as is know from the many reports issued already and the December 2015 Special Session of the UN Human Rights Council, which culminated in the adoption of a strong resolution mandating the High Commissioner for Human Rights to deploy a mission by independent experts to visit the country to investigate human rights violations, represents an important step to ensuring greater accountability for violations of fundamental rights in Burundi. However, the Burundian Government’s refusal to facilitate this mission has severely hampered efforts to identify and implement a sustainable resolution to the crisis [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2016/02/08/what-is-burundi-doing-in-the-un-human-rights-council/]. Although there is now a bit of hope as three investigators are due to visit Burundi for a week from March 1, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in a statement. The three experts — from Algeria, Colombia and South Africa — are members of the UN’s Independent Investigation on Burundi (UNIIB). “Our aim is to help the state fulfil its human rights obligations, ensure accountability for human rights violations and abuses, including by identifying alleged perpetrators,” said Christof Heyns, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary of Arbitrary Executions who is one of the investigators. The African Union (AU) said it would increase the number of human rights and military observers deployed. “The AU will deploy 100 human rights observers and 100 military monitors to Burundi to monitor the situation,” a statement on the South African presidency’s website said Saturday.
Source: HRC31: Side-event on Burundi on 4th March at 3pm – East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project
http://www.timeslive.co.za/africa/2016/02/29/UN-to-send-human-rights-team-to-Burundi
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Burundi, Christof Heyns, DefendDefenders, East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, Geneva, MEA 2007, Michel Forst, monitoring, NGO 'Protection International, Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, side event, UN Human Rights Council, UN's Independent Investigation on Burundi (UNIIB)
March 1, 2016
On Monday 7 March 2016, from 13h30-15h00 in Room XVIII, Palais des Nations, Geneva, there will be a side event:Protection needs of human rights defenders working on economic, social and cultural rights: Challenges and good practice. (see my previous post: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2016/02/29/regional-update-for-asia/)
The current and previous Special Rapporteurs on the situation of human rights defenders have emphasised the specific risks that defenders working on economic, social and cultural rights face. Whether they are activists fighting corruption or promoting transparency, working on land and environment rights, or defending their right to housing, ESC-rights defenders are among the most isolated and stigmatised defenders. This side event hopes to shed light on the risks faced by economic, social and cultural rights defenders, and draw on the report of the Special Rapporteur presented to the 31st session of the Human Rights Council to present good practices in furthering their protection.
panelists:
• Michel Forst, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
• Navi Pillay, former High Commissioner for Human Rights
• Allo Awol, human rights defender from Eritrea
• Arutchelvan Subramaniams, human rights defender from Malaysia
• Pedro Tzicá, human rights defender from Guatemala
Moderator: Ms Catarina de Albuquerque, Executive Chair of Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) and former UN Special Rapporteur on the right to safe drinking water and sanitation.
Interpretation in English and Spanish will be provided. The event will be webcast live at www.ishr.ch/webcasts
Source: Protection needs of human rights defenders working on economic, social and cultural rights | ISHR
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Allo Awol, Arutchelvan Subramaniams, Catarina de Albuquerque, civil society activists, environmental issues, Geneva, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR, land rights, Michel Forst, Navi Pillay, Pedro Tzicá, side event, social and economic rights, webcast
March 1, 2016
Posted in films, Human Rights Defenders, THF | Leave a Comment »
Tags: DiploHack, diplomacy, Geneva, hackers, Human Rights Defenders, information technology, internet, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Netherlands, THF, True Heroes Films, video clip, You Tube
February 29, 2016
The Statement of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, at the 31st session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, on 29 February 2016 is worth reading (as usual). Some of the highlights are: 
Today we meet against a backdrop of accumulating departures from that body of institutions and laws which States built to codify their behaviour. Gross violations of international human rights law – which clearly will lead to disastrous outcomes – are being greeted with indifference. More and more States appear to believe that the legal architecture of the international system is a menu from which they can pick and choose – trashing what appears to be inconvenient in the short term.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: conflict, Human Rights Up Front, humanitarian law, migration, nationalism, racism, refugees, statement, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid, UN Human Rights Council, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein
February 29, 2016
A regional update on Asia is based on a submission to United Nations’ Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (15 February) and a report of the Regional Consultation of Citizens’ Voices held in Kathmandu (25/26 February) held under the aegis of South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR).
The Asian Legal Resource Centre directs the attention of the Human Rights Council to the critical situation of human rights defenders in China, Bangladesh, and Thailand, who are facing dire threats to their person and profession: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, OMCT, UN | 1 Comment »
Tags: Adilur Rahman Khan, Asian Legal Resource Centre, Bangladesh, Basil Fernando, China, Geneva, Gerald Staberock, Ghazi Salahuddin, Hameeda Hossain, India, Nepal, Pakistan, side event, South Asians for Human Rights, Thailand
February 29, 2016
The Graduate Institute of Geneva is organizing a potentially interesting Lunch Briefing on Tuesday 1 March 2016, 12h30 – 13h00, in the Maison de la Paix.
Stavros Lambrinidis, the EU’s Special Representative for Human Rights, will explore the role of human rights in EU foreign policy and major challenges in ensuring effective human rights promotion around the world, including the question of the universality of human rights, the shrinking space of civil society, and the issues of coherence and effectiveness that the EU faces today.
Stavros Lambrinidis (former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece)
see also: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2015/12/05/short-report-by-eeas-on-the-17th-eu-ngo-human-rights-forum-3-4-december-2015/
For more information and registration: Newsletter The Graduate Institute, Geneva
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Tags: Civil society, EU, EU Special Representative for Human Rights, Geneva, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Greece, lecture, Stavros Lambrinidis, universality of human rights
February 27, 2016
The criminalization of human rights defenders in the context of the extraction of natural resources and megaprojects is becoming a very worrisome phenomenon in Latin America, denounces the Observatory in a report published today in Mexico. Entitled “The criminalization of human rights defenders in the context of industrial projects: a regional phenomenon in Latin America”, this document points to the role of businesses, civil servants, public prosecutors, judges, and the State. The report issued by OMCT and FIDH (in the context of their Observatory for Human Rights Defenders) on 25 February 2016 describes the specific cases of human rights defenders criminalized in eight Latin American countries (Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru).
The report especially stresses two core issues common to all the countries studied: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in books, FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, OMCT | 4 Comments »
Tags: Brazil, Colombia, criminalisation, criminalization, Ecuador, environmental issues, FIDH, Honduras, Human Rights Defenders, independence of the judiciary, Latin America, Mexico, Nicaragua, Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, OMCT, Peru, regional NGOs, resource extraction
February 25, 2016
The UN Human Rights Council will hold its 31st regular session at Palais des Nations in Geneva from 29 February to 24 March 2016 (it also marks the 10th anniversary of the Human Rights Council). The International Service for Human Rights (see link at the bottom of the post) has published an Alert full of details, but I highlight here the elements that concern human rights defenders most directly:
Human rights defenders: The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Michel Forst, will present his annual report to the Council on 3 March. The report focuses on good practices to promote and protect the rights of human rights defenders. Presentation of the report will be followed by a dialogue. Of significance this session is a substantive resolution that will be presented by Norway on the situation of human rights defenders. The resolution at this session of the Council follows on the heels of the resolution on human rights defenders presented at the General Assembly in November 2015. The General Assembly resolution included a number of new, important and substantive provisions, including on the vital role of advocacy and the work of defenders in contributing to sustainable development and the realisation of economic, social and cultural rights, and the responsibilities of business enterprises with respect to engaging, consulting and protecting defenders. [see also: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2015/12/18/un-general-assembly-adopts-resolution-on-human-rights-defenders-with-increased-majority/] This latest resolution provides an opportunity to recognise the critically important work of economic, social and cultural rights defenders, and the cross-cutting challenges they face, including restrictions not only on their rights to health, food, housing, social security and work, but also on their rights to freedom of expression, association, assembly and life itself. Economic, social and cultural rights activists have been identified by current and previous Special Rapporteurs on the situation of human rights defenders as among the most isolated and stigmatised defenders. It is integral that the resolution recognises the role of both State and non-State actors in the protection of human rights defenders, and enjoys broad State support for strong language demanding their protection. (On 7 March, ISHR will facilitate a side event on this topic which will be the subject of a separate post) Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR, OHCHR, UN | 1 Comment »
Tags: Burundi, China, draft resolution, freedom of assembly, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR, Michel Forst, Myanmar, Norway, reprisals, side event, social economic and cultural rights, UN General Assembly, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Human Rights Council, UN Special Rapporteurs, UPR
February 25, 2016
launches its new RightDocs tool with a Demo on 29 February 2016, from 18:00-19:30 in the Palais des Nations, Delegates Restaurant, Geneva.
RightDocs is a new tool to search, sort, filter, and discover resolutions of the UN Human Rights Council online and public.
The RightDocs tool is supported by the Permanent Mission of Denmark to the UN in Geneva. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, HURIDOCS, UN | 1 Comment »
Tags: access, Denmark, documentation tools, Geneva, human rights documentation, HURIDOCS, launch, on-line, RightDoc, UN Human Rights Council
February 25, 2016
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe. Public domain photo by the U.S. Air Force.
Two recent items on Zimbabwe showed an interesting link with the number 92 – coincidence?:
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, nicknamed ‘Uncle Bob’, turned 92 on 21 February 2016.
“Human rights defenders have been arrested while doing their work and in 92% of the cases the arrests were unjustified and victims acquitted. We have 224 cases of human rights defenders including lawyers, members of civic society organisations, journalists and student activists arrested and charged,” said Dzimbabwe Chimbga of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) appearing before the Parliamentary Thematic Committee on Human Rights on 26 February.
Amnesty International’s and Human Rights Watch’s annual reports of 2015 contain enough information to make the 92% a good estimate
For earlier posts on Zimbabwe see: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/tag/zimbabwe/
Sources
https://globalvoices.org/2016/02/23/worlds-oldest-president-zimbabwes-robert-mugabe-turns-92/
‘Increasing cases of human rights violations worrisome’ – NewsDay Zimbabwe
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: arbitrary arrest, Dzimbabwe Chimbga, Human Rights Defenders, president robert mugabe, Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 