For years Angélica Bello, a human rights defender from Colombia, rarely spent a day alone – that would have been, simply, too dangerous. A number of threats against her because of her job helping the many survivors of sexual violence – women caught up in Colombia’s long-running armed conflict – meant that it was too dangerous for the 45-year-old mother of four to travel alone. In 2000, two of her daughters were kidnapped and kept as sexual slaves by paramilitaries, and were only released after Angélica personally intervened. Read the rest of this entry »Archive for the 'Human Rights Defenders' Category
Colombian Human Rights Defender dies under controversial circumstances
March 4, 2013For years Angélica Bello, a human rights defender from Colombia, rarely spent a day alone – that would have been, simply, too dangerous. A number of threats against her because of her job helping the many survivors of sexual violence – women caught up in Colombia’s long-running armed conflict – meant that it was too dangerous for the 45-year-old mother of four to travel alone. In 2000, two of her daughters were kidnapped and kept as sexual slaves by paramilitaries, and were only released after Angélica personally intervened. Read the rest of this entry »Two panels in New York on woman human rights defenders on 5 and 12 March 2013
March 2, 2013The first side event “Killings and Violence against Women based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity” will take place on 5 March 2013 (16h30) at the Armenian Convention Center
630 2nd Avenue (at 35th street)
Panelists
TAMARA ADRIAN (Venezuela)
General Director of Diverlex Diversidad e Igualdad a Través de la Ley,
World Trans Secretary of ILGA
MONICA TABENGWA (Botswana)
Africa Researcher, LGBT Program, Human Rights Watch
KIM VANCE (Canada)
Co-Director, ARC International
Moderator
CYNTHIA ROTHSCHILD (USA)
Consultant, COC Netherlands Read the rest of this entry »
Environmentalist Prajob Murdered in Thailand; HRW demands investigation
February 28, 2013Thai authorities should immediately investigate the murder of Prajob Nao-opas, a prominent environmentalist in Chachoengsao province, Human Rights Watch said today, 27 February 2013.
The government’s measures to protect human rights defenders, including environmentalists, who stand up for their communities have consistently proved to be inadequate. On February 25, 2013, at around 2 p.m., a gunman shot 43-year-old Prajob four times at a garage on the Phanom Sarakham-Ban Sang road as he was waiting for mechanics to repair his pickup truck. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that Prajob was seriously wounded from the 11mm bullets and died while being rushed to the hospital by villagers at the shooting scene. The gunman escaped in a getaway car. “The cold-blooded killing of Prajob marks yet another example of the fundamental failure of Thai authorities to protect activists who risk their lives while defending their communities,” said Brad Adams, Asia director. “The government must undertake a serious investigation to bring those responsible for his death to justice, regardless of the status or political affiliation of the killers.”
Since February 2012, Prajob had led villagers in a campaign to expose the dumping of toxic waste in Chachoengsao province’s Phanom Sarakham and Plaeng Yao districts. Many ponds in the area have been filled with dangerous chemicals from industrial estates along Thailand’s eastern seaboard. The Thai government took little action until Prajob managed to get the issue into the national news headlines in August 2012. Only then did the Justice Ministry’s Department of Special Investigation DSI announce that it would treat the chemical waste disposal in Chachoengsao province as a special and urgent case under the DSI’s purview. In December 2012, Prajob told his family that he had received warnings from the Chachoengsao police that there might be an attempt on his life. Since then, he noticed and reported to the police that he was frequently followed and photographed by unidentified men on motorcycles. Despite these explicit threats, no one at either provincial or national level proposed any protective measures for Prajob. Read the rest of this entry »
Stephane Hessel – an exceptional Human Rights Defender – dies at 95
February 28, 2013
Stéphane Hessel, a hero of the French Resistance, diplomat and activist (what a rare combination) died on Tuesday 27 February in Paris at the age of 95. His life and works are described in detail by the mainstream press, so I only single out here his strength of conviction that made him publish at a very advanced age – in October 2010 – “Indignez-Vous!”, a short pamphlet that urged young people to revive the flame of resistance to injustice that burned in himself during World War II, this time in peaceful rebellion against what he termed the dictatorial forces of international capitalism, and to reassert the ideal that the privileged must help the less fortunate rise. Read the rest of this entry »
On 28 February meeting in Geneva on topic crucial to human rights defenders: funding restrictions
February 27, 2013On Thursday 28 February 
OMCT and FIDH organise a meeting in room XXI in the Palais des Nations of the UN (starts 13h00) on the topic: ‘RESTRICTIONS ON NGO FUNDING: FROM HARASSMENT TO CRIMINALISATION“. Many of my recent posts have dealt with this increasing phenomenon which is simply the more sophisticated way of Governments repressing the voices of human rights defenders, activists and dissidents.
The programme looks as follows:
Introductory remarks
Ms. Kyung-wha Kang, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights
H.E. Mr. Colin Wrafter, Director, Human Rights Unit, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ireland
Chair Antoine Bernard, FIDH CEO
Panel speakers:
Gerald Staberock, OMCT Secretary General
Olga Sadovskaya, CAT –member of the OMCT GA– (Russia)
Farida Makar, CIHRS (Egypt)
Adil Rahman Khan, ODHIKAR –member of the OMCT GA- (Bangladesh)
Entrance is free and public but one should get access to the UN building.
11th Human Rights Film Festival starts 1st March in Geneva with a bang that upsets Sri Lanka
February 26, 2013Since 2003, the Geneva Human Rights Film Festival (with the more complicated French name and abbreviation: le Festival du film et forum international sur les droits humains – FIFDH) takes place in parallel to the UN Human Rights Council. Based on the concept “A film, a subject, a debate”, the FIFDH features documentary as well fiction, on themes linked to human rights such as: violence against women, poverty, torture, international justice and even climate change. During 10 days the public is invited to watch the films, meet film makers, actors, experts and victims of human rights violations. There are special screenings for students, and teachers are issued with thematic material. This year a total of 40 films will be screened. New this year is the competition for international fiction. The Jury includes filmmakers and human rights defenders such as: Ai Weiwei, Patrick Chapatte, Romain Goupil and Fadwa Suleiman, Syrian actress in exile. The longstanding festival director is Leo Kaneman: for the programme see: http://www.fifdh.org/
In the meantime, a big controversy has erupted about the showing of the documentary “No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka” in what is called in UN terminology a ‘side event’, organised by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the above-mentioned FIFDH, on the premises of the UN. As reported by AP on 25 February, the Sri Lankan Ambassador has sent a letter to the whole Human Rights Council denouncing the film as “discredited, uncorroborated and unsubstantiated” and warning that the Council would be violating its own rules if the film is screened March 1 in Geneva as planned.
The 90-minute documentary alleges government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels engaged in war crimes during the final stages of the conflict in 2009. The film shows interviews with eyewitnesses and original footage of alleged atrocities against civilians including summary execution, sexual violence and torture. The film director Callum Macrae denied that it distorted the facts: “We believe that our film contains very important evidence about the terrible events in the last few months of this war and we believe we have a duty to make that evidence available to the diplomats and country missions at the U.N. Human Rights Council who must make important decisions about how to ensure accountability and justice in Sri Lanka“. See: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/sri-lanka-opposes-screening-critical-film-18590958. The Sri Lankan Ambassador’s letter which certainly will help to attract a larger audience is to be found on: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/465065/Letter-to-the-President-Human-Rights-Council-2.pdf.
Related articles
- Ai Weiwei heads jury of Geneva’s human rights film festival (worldradio.ch)
UN Human Rights Council opened today with Pillay calling for protection of human rights defenders
February 25, 2013
(High Commissioner for Human Rights Navy Pillay addresses the 22nd session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva. UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré)
As the United Nations Human Rights Council began its work today, 25 February 2013. the High Commissioner Navi Pillay stressed the importance of strengthening international processes that will monitor and prevent rights violations around the world as well as hold perpetrators accountable for their crimes.Addressing the opening of the 22nd session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said that despite significant progress over the past two decades on issues such as the elimination of violence against women and tackling impunity for international crimes, there continue to be systematic human rights violations around the world. In her address to the Council, Ms. Pillay also noted that while the increased involvement of civil society in defending human rights is a welcome development, there have been an alarming number of reports of governments persecuting human rights defenders because of the nature of their work.“I continue to hear of brave human rights defenders, journalists or bloggers who have been threatened, harassed, arrested or killed because of their work on behalf of the human rights of others,” Ms. Pillay said. “Such intimidation has sometimes even occurred during the proceedings of this Council. We must never tolerate such pressure, or reprisals against those who rightly seek to engage the international human rights system.”
In Kenya two women human rights defenders WANT to go to court on 26 February
February 25, 2013This interesting story starts in February 2011 with a peaceful demonstration against deaths of pregnant women at the Huruma Nursing Home, a hospital serving Huruma, one of the major slums in Nairobi. Two human rights defenders, Ruth Mumbi and Ms Victoria Atieno, were accused of incitement to violence. Their case has dragged on for 2 years with at least 5 adjournments triggered by the absence at the trial of the administrator of Huruma Nursing Home, both a key witness and complainant. During the latest hearing on 21 February 2013, the administrator of Huruma Nursing Home turned up at the Court. However, this was a new administrator who replaced the person who managed the establishment at the time when the protest took place. As the judge raised questions about this change of witness, the administrator responded that the sole purpose of his presence at Makadara Law Courts was to present Huruma Nursing Home’s desire that the case be dismissed! The judge interestingly decided to allow the accused human rights defenders to express their opinion on it. On 26 February 2013 (tomorrow), Ruth Mumbi and Victoria Atieno hope to tell how they were victims of malicious prosecution and file a lawsuit to claim damages. And on top of this a great occasion to alert the public about poor health services!
The case against Ruth Mumbi and Victoria Atieno was referred to in an urgent appeal http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/20473 on 30 October 2012. 
Protection International publishes FOCUS Report 2013 on Policies concerning Human Rights Defenders
February 25, 2013
Protection International (PI) is published on 23 February 2013 its first FOCUS report. To commemorate the 15th Anniversary of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders (HRDs), the report presents the results from PI’s research on public government policies to protect human rights defenders internationally. It analyzes the development of public policy meant to protect human rights defenders. While acknowledging advances that have clearly enhanced existing regional and international mechanisms, the report adopts a critical approach since States are ultimately responsible for protecting Human Rights Defenders, starting with governments.PI hopes this report will contribute to the discussion on how to improve existing public policies and spur discussion between civil society organizations and governments of countries where protection of human rights defenders is far from being ensured.
The full report can be downloaded in several languages via: FOCUS Report 2013 : “Public Policies for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders: The State of the Art” | | ProtectionlineProtectionline.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 