Author Archive
August 27, 2013
Via Front Line some good and bad news on Haiti, the country of one the finalists for the MEA 2013: 
On 22 August 2013, the criminal charges of arson and conspiracy against human rights lawyer Mr Patrice Florvilus were dropped when the original plaintiff stated he would withdraw his complaint. Patrice Florvilus is the Executive Director of Défense des Opprimées/Opprimés – DOP, an organisation which provides legal assistance, in particular to social movements and residents of displacement camps. For more information on this case, please see the urgent appeal issued by Front Line Defenders on 21 August 2013 http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/23580 .
But…on 23 August 2013, the home of human rights defender Ms Malya Villard Apollon was attacked by a group of armed men, who fired gunshots at the gate. Malya Villard Apollon is the co-director of the Commission of Women Victims for Victims (KOFAVIV), a grassroots women’s organisation working in the poorest areas of Port-au-Prince to prevent and redress sexual assault, care for survivors and build a movement for human rights in Haiti. The attack took place in the early hours of 23 August 2013, at 1.30 am. The armed men fired gunshots at the gate of Malya Villard Apollon’s home, damaging the gate and the doorbell. The human rights defender called the police who rushed to her home, but by the time they arrived the group had fled the scene. However, the armed men returned shortly thereafter, and upon seeing the police they fired at them. Despite chasing the attackers, the police was unable to apprehend them. This attack is the latest in a series of escalating threats and acts of intimidation against Malya Villard Apollon and other members of KOFAVIV. While they have received threats for a number of years, threats and acts of intimidation have intensified since Malya Villard Apollon was nominated as one of the CNN Heroes in 2012. Her dog has been poisoned, unknown individuals have visited her home and office inquiring about her whereabouts, and both Malya Villard Apollon’s as well as KOFAVIV co-director Marie Eramithe Delva’s children have been followed and have been the subject of attempted kidnappings.
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Tags: death threats, Duvalier, Frontline, Haiti, harassment, human rights, Human rights defender, lawyers, legal aid, Malya Villard Apollon, MEA, Patrice Florvilus, Port-au-Prince, woman human rights defender
August 27, 2013
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) in collaboration with DIGNITY, has made the practice of custodial torture and ill-treatment a core area of engagement. With a view to counteract the widespread practice of torture, the AHRC and DIGNITY have formed an Asian Alliance against Torture and Ill-treatment (AAATI) in 2012. The first conference of Asian Parliamentarians and Human Rights Defenders was held in Hong Kong in 2012 [ see report Torture – Asian and Global Perspectives Vol. 1, No. 3 ].
The focus for the second meeting [scheduled for 11-13 November 2013] will be to identify the reluctance of governments to achieve a substantial change in the nature of policing in their countries to bring these institutions at par with the policing systems of advanced democracies.
The link below refers to the announcement which in fact is a CONCEPT PAPER:
ASIA: Second Regional Conference of Asian Parliamentarians & Human Rights Defenders on Elimination of Custodial Torture and Ill-treatment in Asia November 2013, Hong Kong — Asian Human Rights Commission
For details please contact: Bijo Francis, Executive Director, Email: ahrc at ahrc.asia
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Tags: AHRC, Asia, asian human rights, Asian Human Rights Commission, DIGNITY, Hong Kong, Human right, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, ill treatment, meeting, Non-governmental organization, parliamentarians, Police, torture, United Nations
August 25, 2013
(Commissioners of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights – Photo: OAS)
By letter of 23 August 2013, addressed to Dr. Emilio Álvarez Icaza, executive secretary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, a group of human rights NGOs [National Religious Campaign Against Torture, California Families to Abolish Solitary Confinement, California Prison Focus, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, California Coalition for Women Prisoners, The Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights, Disability Rights Legal Center, Stanford International Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Clinic, American Friends Service Committee (Western Region), ACLU National Prison Project, Families to Amend California’s Three Strikes, Fair Chance Project, Center for Constitutional Rights, Justice Now, National Lawyers Guild, San Diego Committee for Prisoners Rights, The Real Cost of Prisons Project and the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law] requested a thematic hearing with a focus on people incarcerated in California prisons. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: American Friends Service Committee, California, california coalition for women prisoners, Centre for Constitutional Rights, detention, Emilio Álvarez Icaza, Human right, Human Rights Defenders, IACHR, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, mandatory minimum sentences, national prison project, National Religious Campaign Against Torture, Organization of American States, prison conditions, racial discrimination, solitary confinement, thematic hearing, USA
August 23, 2013
On 23 August 2013, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of FIDH and OMCT, expresses its deep concern about the Iranian blogger and human rights activist Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki, whose health status has been deteriorating. On August 9, 2013, Mr. Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki started a hunger strike to protest the authorities’ ongoing refusal to allow him to continue his medical treatment out of Evin prison in Tehran. His mother, Ms. Zolaykha Mousavi, also started a hunger strike on August 20, 2013 to draw attention to his plight. Ronaghi-Maleki has been suffering from kidney and heart problems and bladder inflammation. Since the beginning of his hunger strike, he has suffered kidney bleeding, blood pressure oscillations and arrhythmic heart beats. He has already undergone several operations on his kidneys that were damaged after being repeatedly tortured during his detention, including 13 months in solitary confinement. He has been serving a 15-year prison sentence after being arrested on December 13, 2009 and convicted on charges of “membership of Iran-Proxy Internet Group”, “spreading propaganda against the system”, “insulting the Iranian Supreme Leader and the President”. 
via Iran : IRAN: Grave concern over health status of human … – FIDH.
Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, OMCT | 2 Comments »
Tags: blogger, detention, Evin Prison, Hossein Ronaghi, Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki, human rights, Hunger strike, illtreatment, Iran, Observatory for the Protection of HRDs, Tehran, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
August 22, 2013
Repressive governments are using different and increasingly ‘indirect’ means to silence human rights defenders. Intimidation, administrative restrictions, fiscal regulations aimed at reducing funding, terminating rental agreements, judicial harassment, etc. According to a report by Human Rights Watch of 14 August 2013, Rwanda is practicing a slightly different tactic: wholesale infiltration and ‘take over’ of independent NGOs.
Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Africa, freedom of association, HRW, human rights, human rights abuses, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, human rights group, human rights groups, Human Rights Watch, infiltration, LIPRODHOR, Non-governmental organization, Rwanda
August 22, 2013
Although the deadline for nominations (15 August) has passed, I still want to draw your attention to a new series of human rights awards instituted by Pan-African HRDs Network (PAHRD-Net), which in turn is made up of five sub-regional networks i.e. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network, West Africa Human Rights Defenders Network, Southern African Human Rights Defenders Network hosted by the International Commission of Jurists and the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, and Central African Human Rights Defenders Network.
The new awards aim to honour exceptional individuals who peacefully promote and protect universally recognized rights as stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Altogether six awards will be presented, one Pan-African Human Rights Defenders Award and five sub-regional awards:
– East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Award 2013
– West Africa Human Rights Defenders Award 2013
– Southern Africa Human Rights Defenders Award 2013
– Central Africa Human Rights Defenders Award 2013
– Northern Africa Human Rights Defenders Award 2013
Both individuals and organizations are eligible. Awards include support to the human rights work of the winning individual or organisation with a total value of 10 000 USD for the Pan-African award winner and 5 000 USD for each sub-regional award winners. The winners will be selected by an independent jury. Nominations should be returned to: hrdaward@defenddefenders.org.
The awards will be presented to the winners at the occasion of the 54th Ordinary Session of the Africa Commission on Human and People’s Rights scheduled to be held in October 2013 in Banjul, The Gambia.
allAfrica.com: Africa: Call for Nominations – Pan African HRD Award 2013.
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Tags: Africa, awards, Banjul, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, human rights awards, Human Rights Defenders, International Commission of Jurists, Pan-African Human Rights Defenders Network, protection, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
August 20, 2013
Mrinalini Shinde wrote a post in Polymic of 17 August about the human rights situation in Saoudi Arabia in good polemic style under the title: “Starting a Human Rights Association in This Country? Prepare to Face Jail Time”. She is an undergraduate student of law at National Law School of India University, interested in gender and sustainability issues. .. She has volunteered with the Human Right Law Network, and has conducted research in family laws, and gender justice. see: Mrinalini Shinde.
© Climber1 (Wikimedia Commons)
The article is not news but provides an excellent example of how students in human rights can write up information Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Amnesty International, Bajadi, human rights, human rights activists, Human Rights Defenders, human rights groups, india university, Mrinalini Shinde, National Law School of India University, Riyadh, saoudi arabia, Saudi Arabia, Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association, students
August 20, 2013
On 17 August 2013, it emerged that Guangzhou-based human rights defender Mr Yang Maodong, better known by his pen name Guo Feixiong, had been detained on charges of “assembling a crowd to disrupt order in a public place”. Although in detention since 8 August 2013, Yang Maodong’s family were only notified by the police of his arrest on 17 August [!]. Yang Maodong is a well known figure in China‘s rights defence movement Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: China, detention, Front Line (NGO), Guangdong, Guangzhou, Guo Feixiong, harassment, Human Rights Defenders, human rights lawyers, human rights movement, illtreatment, torture, Yang Maodong
August 20, 2013
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), draw attention to the following situation in Malaysia.
According to the information received, on 7 August 2013, at 3.00pm, Cynthia Gabriel, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Aliran, anti corruption, Companies Commission Malaysia, Cynthia Gabriel, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, International Federation for Human Rights, judicial harassment, Malaysia, Observatory for the Protection of HRDs, Petaling Jaya, Scorpène-class submarine, Scorpene, Suaram, threats, woman human rights defender, World Organisation Against Torture
August 19, 2013
On 15 August 2013 the Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa [HRLHA] called for reversal of the sentencing of 21 Oromo students by the Federal High Court of Ethiopia on 7th August.
Posted in human rights | Leave a Comment »
Tags: anti terrorism legislation, Ethiopia, Ethiopian Government, fair trial, Horn of Africa, HRLHA, human rights, minority rights, Oromo, Oromo people, prison sentence, students
Three of the Sentenced Oromo Students
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 