Archive for the 'Human Rights Defenders' Category
August 13, 2013
On 12 August Human Rights Watch issued a report on Ecuador and urged it to revoke a presidential decree that grants far-reaching powers to the government to oversee and dissolve nongovernmental organizations.
On June 4, 2013, President Rafael Correa adopted a decree [a similar decree in December 2010 was shelved after criticism] that creates new procedures for Ecuadorean nongovernmental organizations to obtain legal status and requires international organizations to undergo a screening process to seek permission to work in Ecuador. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: administrative rules, Bahrain, decree, Ecuador, foreign funding, freedom of association, HRW, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights Watch, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, NGOs, Non-governmental organization, Rafael Correa, Russia, Uganda, Venezuela
August 13, 2013
13 NGOs have signed an open letter concerning the situation in Bahrain in the light of the upcoming mass demonstration on 14 August. As it is short and to the point here is the full text copied from the FIDH website: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: AI, Bahrain, Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, Bahrain Human Rights Society, Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, Bahrain Watch, Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights, Bahraini, Barack Obama, David Cameron, European-Bahraini Organization for Human Rights, FIDH, freedom of demonstration, Front Line (NGO), Gulf Centre for Human Rights, HRW, human rights, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights First, human rights organizations, IFEX, Manama, mass protests, Physicians for Human Rights
August 13, 2013
For those who think that the phenomenon of forced psychiatric treatment of human rights defenders has disappeared with the end of the cold war, here are two reminders from Front Line that this is unfortunately still continuing:
The first case is in the Ukraine and had at least a ‘happy’ ending: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Almaty, forced psychiatric treatment, Front Line (NGO), human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human Rights Defenders, Kazakhstan, Mental disorder, Psychiatric hospital, Psychiatry, Raisa Radchenko, Supreme Court, Ukraine, women human rights defenders, Zinaida Mukhortova
August 12, 2013
Kerry Kennedy writes in an opinion in the WashingtonPost of 12 August about how her organisation was called by the superintendent of Bucyrus City Schools to address the issue of bullying in the school. The Speak Truth To Power [STTP], human rights education curriculum offered by the Robert F. Kennedy Center is taught in schools around the world — from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to Pisa, Italy, from Stockholm to Chicago. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: bullying, Desmond Tutu, Elie Wiesel, Human Rights Defenders, human rights education, human rights organization, Juliana Dogbadzi, Kerry Kennedy, Phnom Penh, schools, Speak Truth to Power, United States, Washington Post
August 11, 2013
Reuters reports that China has arrested an activist on a charge of subversion and the latest sign that the authorities are hardening their stance toward dissent. Yang Lin, 45, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in films, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: anti corruption, Bangkok Post, Beijing, Charter 08, China, Chinese Human Rights Defenders, dissidents, illegal detention, Liu Xiaobo, Tiananmen Square, University of Hong Kong's China Media Project, video, Xi Jinping, Xu Zhiyong, Yang Lin
August 10, 2013
Maryam al-Khawaja (c) IBT
The International Business Times of 9 August reports that Maryam al-Khawaja, acting president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) has been prevented from boarding a British Airways flight from Copenhagen to Bahrain because of a ban issued by the government Bahrain. Why did the UK airline agreed to the ban without giving any motive for the blocking order or any advance notice?. “I had the flight this morning from Copenhagen and everything was fine. I did the online check-in yesterday,” she told IBTimes UK. “I was blocked at the boarding and told to check with the counter because there was a problem. The lady called the office in London who told her that there was a denied boarding message as a decision from Bahrain government”. Al-Khawaja holds dual Bahraini-Danish citizenship but has not renewed her Bahraini passport . Her father Abdulhadi and sister Zainab are in jail for their role in pro-democracy protests.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, Bahrain, Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, ban, BCHR, British Airways, Copenhagen, International Business Times, London, Maryam Alkhawaja, woman human rights defender
August 9, 2013
Front Line reports the continuous presence of armed security guards in the community of La Nueva Esperanza, in the department of Atlántida, threatening and intimidating the local population, resulted in the temporary kidnapping of two human rights defenders, Mr Daniel Langmeier and Ms Orlane Vidal. Both are working for the Proyecto de Acompañamiento Honduras – PROAH (Honduras Accompaniment Project), an organisation which aims to prevent or alleviate situations of risk against human rights defenders in Honduras. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in AI, Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: accompaniement, AI, armed security guards, environmental issues, Front Line (NGO), Honduras, Human right, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, Inter-American Human Rights Commission, La Nueva Esperanza, land rights, Lenir Pérez, Mining, Orlane Vidal, peaceful resistance, woman human rights defender
August 9, 2013
In a piece published in the Alaska Dispatch of 8 August 2013, Phil Lynch, the Director of the Geneva-based International Service for Human Rights, contemplates what the next session of the UN Human Rights Council could do to improve the fate of HRDs.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: Cameroon, foreign funding, Human right, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, Indonesia, international protection, International Service for Human Rights, ISHR, LGBT, Memorial, Navi Pillay, Non-governmental organization, Phil Lynch, Russia, United Nations, United Nations Human Rights Council
August 8, 2013

Ms. Ragia Omran, a leading Egyptian human rights lawyer and women’s rights activist, was announced -on 2 July 2013 – as the winner of the 2013 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, now in its 30th year. The award recognizes her extraordinary work, and initiates a partnership to support her efforts to advance the women’s rights, the rule of law, and democracy in Egypt through human rights legal advocacy. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Arab spring, democracy in egypt, Egypt, Hisham Mubarak Law Center, human rights, human rights awards, human rights lawyer, Kerry Kennedy, lawyer, Middle East, Mohamed Morsi, Mona Seif, Ragia Omran, Robert F. Kennedy, Tahrir Square, woman human rights defender
August 8, 2013
Social activist Dyiana Yakauleva was detained by the riot police at the police station in Krylenka Street. Human rights defenders Barys Bukhel and Aliaksei Kolchyn are trying to clear up the circumstances of the detention. From 11.30 -12.30 a.m. a solidarity action, timed to coincide with the International Day of Solidarity with the Civil Society of Belarus, was held in the city of Mahiliou, Belarus. During the action, social activists handed out postcards with a portrait of the imprisoned head of the Human Rights Center “Viasna” Ales Bialiatski. The protest went peacefully but after it ended Dyiana Yakauleva was detained anyway.
via Detentions after solidarity action in Mahiliou – Charter97 :: News from Belarus – Belarusian News – Republic of Belarus – Minsk.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Ales Bialiatski, Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus, Dyiana Yakauleva, Human right, human rights, illegal detention, Minsk, solidarity action, Viasna Human Rights Centre, woman human rights defender