Archive for the 'human rights' Category
September 20, 2017
Having just announced the ceremony of the Martin Ennals Award of Human Rights Defenders for 10 October 2017, I now draw your attention to the possibility to nominate a candidate for the 2018 Martin Ennals Award. The Ennals Award is intended for human rights defenders (HRDs) who are defending the rights of others, while at risk. This could include physical danger, repressive legal processes, or other forms of harassment.
1. The HRD must be currently active (no posthumous nominations).
2. The HRD must be demonstrably at risk.
3. The HRD must work with non-violent means.
Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders
Source: Nominate a Candidate for the 2018 Martin Ennals Award – Martin Ennals Award
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, MEA | Leave a Comment »
Tags: call for nominations, human rights award, Human Rights Defenders, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, Martin Ennals Foundation
September 19, 2017
organizes on 21 September 2017 an important side event: “Ending Reprisals: Discussion with Human Rights Defenders and Experts”. The purpose of this discussion is to contribute to the critical debate on developing and strengthening procedures to prevent and address reprisals at the UN, ensuring that the voices of defenders are at the front and centre of the discussion.
This panel coincides with the presentation of the Secretary-General’s annual report on Cooperation with the United Nations, its representatives and mechanisms in the field of human rights (‘the reprisals report’) at the Council’s current session. [for some of my earlier posts on this crucial topic see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/tag/reprisals/]
Panelists:
- Michel Forst, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
- Peggy Hicks, Director of Thematic Engagement, Special Procedures and Right to Development Division, OHCHR
- Claudia Samayoa (UDEFEGUA), Human Rights Defender from Guatemala
- Ellecer Carlos (iDEFEND & PAHRA), Human Rights Defender from the Philippines
- Women human rights defender from Burundi, member of the MFFPS
Moderator: Tess McEvoy, Legal Counsel, ISHR
(Attendance with UNOG pass only.)
Source: Invitation: Thursday 21 September, 3.00pm – Ending Reprisals: Discussion with Human Rights Defenders and Experts
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Claudia Samayoa, Ellecer Carlos, Geneva, Guatemala, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR, Michel Forst, Peggy Hicks, Philippines, reprisals, side event, UN Human Rights Council
September 18, 2017
Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders/
The City of Geneva and the Martin Ennals Foundation have announced the program of the 24thCeremony of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders. The ceremony will be held in French and in English at Uni Dufour, Jean-Piaget auditorium (U 600) on Tuesday 10 October 2017, at 6 pm. This ceremony will open the Human Rights Week organized by the University of Geneva.This ceremony is open to the public. Please register to attend the ceremony. The event will be streamed. The key elements in the programme are:
see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2017/05/16/trans-defenders-karla-avelars-life-is-under-constant-threat/ and
https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2017/06/30/cambodian-adhoc-5-human-rights-defenders-surprisingly-freed-for-the-time-being/
Last year’s film portraits can be seen here.
The 2017 Martin Ennals Award on social media:
– its Facebook event
– on Twitter: @martinennals #Ennals2017
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: 2017 ceremony, ADHOC Five, City of Geneva, human right defenders, human rights awards, Karla Avelar, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, MEA, Ville de Geneve
September 17, 2017
The Daughters for Life Foundation is now accepting applications for its 2017 Scholarships Program. The Foundation is looking for outstanding female students, who would like to take their education to the next level. It is offering up to 10 scholarships for the next academic year for students to follow their dreams at universities in North America, South Asia, and the UK. The foundation’s goal is to represent the interests of young women of all nationalities, ethnicities, and religious affiliations across the Middle East. So far, more than 30 young scholars have enrolled in universities and colleges across North America, the United Kingdom, and Bangladesh. Submission deadline: December 16, 2016
Izzeldin Abuelaish started the Daughters for Life organization after his daughters were tragically killed. Since then he’s devoted his life to promoting the higher education of young women in the Middle East and around the world. He has helped nearly 400 girls since 2010 achieve their dreams. He said seeing these remarkable women move to change the world is keeping his daughters memory alive. I reported earlier that even this kind of approach was considered ‘controversial’ by some [https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2016/04/13/human-rights-museum-controversy-izzeldin-abuelaishfor-palestinian-doctor-gallery/]
Source: Daughters for Life Scolarships program 2017
Posted in awards, human rights | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Canada, Daughters for Life Foundation, Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Izzeldin Abuelaish, scholarships, students, women, youth
September 15, 2017
Justice and Peace Netherlands supports human rights defenders worldwide with trainings, its temporary relocation programme Shelter City and advocacy. In The Netherlands it organises Welkom Hier festivals together with local partners and refugees.
The Human Rights Defenders Programme has two aspects:
- Shelter City, in which Human Rights Defenders at risk are temporarily relocated in The Netherlands for 3 months in order to rest and respite, gain new knowledge, energy, and expand their network.
- The Hague Training Course (THTC), in which they participate in 10-day training course that aims to support Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) by facilitating the strengthening of their knowledge and skills on 4 main modules: training of trainers, holistic security (physical, digital, psychological), advocacy and policy influencing and international protection mechanisms.
Its Human Rights Defenders and Security programme offers – from mid-October to mid-December 2017 – an Internship (32 hours a week). The internship includes activities related to the aforementioned 2 projects. Candidates should have the following competences:
- A Bachelor or Master’s degree level student in a discipline related to (international) human rights, law, social sciences, politics;
- Excellent oral and written skills in English language (in addition French and/or Spanish are highly valued);
- Result-oriented, flexible, stress resistant, professional, team player, open and creative mind, analytical skills.
The internship fee is €400 gross per month for a full work week of 36 hours. We also provide full reimbursement of travel expenses (2nd class public transport).
If interested send your motivation and CV to Marieke van der Vliet, Head of Programmes, vacature@justiceandpeace.nl, citing ‘Internship HRDs Programme’ .
Deadline: 30 September 2017. Interviews will take place beginning October. For more information: Manon Muti: manon.muti@justiceandpeace.nl or +31 (0)70-7631419.
Source: Internship: Human Rights Defenders & Security Programme at Justice and Peace NL (The Hague) – Career Service Rechten
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Human Rights Defenders, internship, job opportunity, Justice and Peace Netherlands, Netherlands, refugees, the Hague, training, vacancy
September 3, 2017
While receiving sharply worded emails and social media messages that the Rohingyas in Myanmar do not exist or have been ‘invented by the Saudis’, other more sober contributions put the serious question – whether with hindsight – Aung San Suu Kyi should not give back the many international awards she has received. Aung San Suu Kyi is the recipient of at least 15 international awards (e.g. Nobel Peace Prize, Rafto, Sakharov, AI’s Ambassador of Conscience, Vaclav Havel Price for Creative Dissent). The UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence (SIC) seems especially awkward.
Almost a year ago I referred in a blog post [https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2016/09/20/how-awards-can-get-it-wrong-four-controversial-decisions-in-one-week/] to “a serious expression of concern by an ethnic minority: Prensa Latina reported on 19 September that hundreds of Muslim students demonstrated against the Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award 2016 given to Minister of State of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi by the Harvard Foundation. According to the website of the Harvard Foundation recent prizes of that foundation were given to education activist Malala Yousafzai, Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-Moon. According to the Mizzima news agency, the young people consider that Aung San Suu Kyi does nothing to handle the persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority. According to the local press, Suu Kyi herself considered, while receiving the prize, that in her country there is still a long way to go before saying that the people are free and safe.”
….In awarding her a degree from the Australian National University in 2013, then chancellor Gareth Evans called her “an exemplar of quiet courage and determination in the face of oppression and a champion of the peaceful path towards a better and more just world”. But Suu Kyi’s government, swept into power on a landslide election victory in 2015, last week accused international aid workers, including those from UN agencies, of helping Islamic “terrorists” who had attacked 30 police posts on August 27. She presented no evidence. The top UN human rights official, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, described the claim as “irresponsible”.
Now Reuters reports that about 120,000 people – mostly displaced and stateless Rohingya Muslims – in Rakhine camps are not receiving food supplies or healthcare after contractors for the World Food Program suspended operations following the government accusations. Staff have been too afraid to show up for work. “As a result of the disruption of activities in central Rakhine state, many people are not receiving their normal food assistance and primary healthcare services have been severe disrupted,” said Pierre Peron, a spokesman for the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs.
Suu Kyi’s government refuses to allow UN investigators and the media access to parts of Rakhine where rights monitors fear a campaign of ethnic cleansing is underway.
Suu Kyi was idolised while spending 15 years as a prisoner of Myanmar’s army generals. Now she refuses to speak up for 1.1 million stateless and long persecuted Rohingya. She may not control her country’s armed forces but, since taking high office, Suu Kyi has refused to acknowledge the plight of the Rohingya in any meaningful way. She deflects questions about the persecution of Rohingya, saying only the “rule of law” must apply in Rakhine. She also dismisses the independent UN inquiry as “not suitable for the situation of our country.”
……Some human rights activists who campaigned for years for Suu Kyi’s release when she was a political prisoner now feel a deep sense of betrayal from the woman they formerly saw as a heroine. Perhaps it is time for her to hand back her Noble Peace Prize. (The story The ‘human catastrophe’ that betrays Suu Kyi’s Nobel prize first appeared on The Sydney Morning Herald.)
Front line Defenders reported on 2 August that human rights defender Ko Swe Win was prevented from travelling and detained in connection with defamation charges on 30 July 2017, at Yangon International Airport as he was trying to fly to Bangkok. He was reportedly taken into police custody in relation to a defamation case brought by a follower of extremist Buddhist monk U Wirathu, who told the police he believed Ko Swe Win was attempting to flee the country. Despite the defamation lawsuit filed against him, no travel restrictions were issued against Ko Swe Win. The human rights defender was released on bail on 31 July 2017. See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2013/11/23/burma-continued-prosecution-of-human-rights-defenders-and-peaceful-demonstrators/
Sources:
http://sea-globe.com/myanmar-war-on-terror/
https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/profile/ko-swe-win
Arakan and traces of blood on Nobel Prize – Saadet Oruç – Daily Sabah
http://www.northerndailyleader.com.au/story/4896812/the-human-catastrophe-that-betrays-suu-kyis-nobel-prize/?cs=4141
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, OHCHR | 5 Comments »
Tags: Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma, High Commissioner for Human Rights, human rights awards, Human Rights Defenders, Ko Swe Win, Lindsay Murdoch, Myanmar, peace awards, Rakhine, return awards, Rohingyas, Unesco
September 2, 2017
In advance of the Human Rights Council elections that will take place this October for the membership term 2018-2020, Amnesty International and the International Service for Human Rights will hold pledging events for candidate States in Geneva and New York on 11 September 2017. The events, which will be co-sponsored by a cross-regional group of Permanent Missions, are intended to give candidates an opportunity to present their vision for Council membership and to respond to questions from a range of stakeholders on how they would realise the pledges and commitments they may have made in seeking election.
If you can’t make it, you can follow the event live on ISHR YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/ISHRGlobal and submit questions to the candidates via Twitter using #HRCPledging.
Make sure to also check out the scorecards, for an ‘at-a-glance’ comparison of the candidates, focusing on their coöperation with the Council, their support for civil society, their engagement with UN treaty bodies and special procedures, whether they have spoken out in concern about reprisals, and whether they have established a national human rights institution:
please RSVP by 4 September using the following links:
Source: HRC elections | How do the candidates for 2018 rate? | ISHR
Posted in AI, human rights, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR | 1 Comment »
Tags: AI, Geneva, ISHR, membership UN human rights council, New York, pledging, streaming, UN, UN Human Rights Council
August 31, 2017
The Václav Havel Human Rights Prize is awarded each year by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in partnership with the Václav Havel Library and the Charta 77 Foundation to reward outstanding civil society action in the defence of human rights in Europe and beyond. The Prize is awarded in memory of Václav Havel, enduring symbol of opposition to despotism. The Prize consists of a sum of €60 000.
The finalists for 2017 are:
- Murat Arslan (Turkey). The nominee, in detention since 2016, is a well-known and reputed judge. President of the now dissolved Association for the Union of Judges and Prosecutors (YARSAV), he has always been a supporter of the independence of the judiciary.
- Hungarian Helsinki Committee. A non-governmental human rights organisation founded in 1989 and based in Budapest, it carries out a broad range of activities in the area of human rights with a particular focus on access to justice and the rights of asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons.
- Father Georg Sporschill (Austria). A Jesuit who has devoted his life to the care of the most vulnerable, notably children. He has set up an association (Elijah) which carries out numerous projects in Austria, Bulgaria, Republic of Moldova and Romania.
Chairing the meeting of the selection panel,
Sir Roger Gale, the most senior Vice-President of the Assembly, said: “
the jury chose the candidates from among a long and well-qualified list of nominees, fully respecting the spirit and the principles of the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize”.The winner of the prize is due to be announced on 9 October 2017. The 2016 Prize went to Yazidi human rights activist Nadia Murad. [
https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2016/10/18/yazidi-survivor-nadia-murad-wins-vaclav-havel-human-rights-prize-2016/]
Source: Václav Havel Human Rights Prize
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Austria, Father Georg Sporschill, human rights award, Human Rights Defenders, Hungarian Helsinki Committe, Hungary, Murat Arslan, Nadia Murad, PACE, Sir Roger Gale, Turkey, Vaclav Havel, Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly
August 31, 2017
You can vote for your favourite candidate to win this Dutch government award for worldwide innovative human rights defenders. Have a look at the 10 nominees below.
Justice and Peace NL has been chosen by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs to facilitate the selection process of the Human Rights Tulip award. The Human Rights Tulip is an annual award presented by the Dutch government to individuals and organisations who take an innovate approach to promoting human rights. The ten nominees are: Ali Idrissa (Niger), Angélica Choc (Guatemala), Azza Soliman (Egypt), Cordelia Foundation (Hungary), Dina Meza (Honduras), Gisha (Israel/Palestinian Territories), Graciela Pérez Rodriguez (Mexico), Lottie Cunningham Wren (Nicaragua), Mirza Shahzad Akbar (Pakistan) and Wang Quanzhang (China). The minister will pick the winner from the top 3 candidates who have gathered the most votes. 
On Friday December 8 the minister will award the winner the bronze Human Rights Tulip statue and a prize worth € 100.000,-. The winner can use the funding to further develop his or her innovative contribution to strengthening human rights – and on such a scale that as many people and places benefit as possible.
For last year’s winner: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2016/11/06/pakistani-digital-activist-nighat-dad-recipient-of-2016-human-rights-tulip/
The nomination round yielded almost 130 nominations. These 130 were assessed by Justice and Peace, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and their networks. 10 candidates were selected for the online voting. Public voting opened on Monday August 28 at 12.00 and will close on Wednesday September 6 at 24.00 (Dutch time).
Below you can view the profiles of the 10 candidates:
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: human rights award, Human Rights Defenders, Justice and Peace Netherlands, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Netherlands, nominations, The Tulip Award, voting
August 30, 2017
In 2015, the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (then still abbreviated EHAHRDP) celebrated its ten-year anniversary and decided it was time to give the organisation a new, fresh face under its new name: DefendDefenders. In February, after a year of consultations, it presented its new logo and rebranded image during the third general assembly of the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network. Today, it launched its new website at https://www.defenddefenders.org as the final step. 
On DefendDefenders’ new website, it is easier to find information and stay up to date on its work. HRDs will be able to contact them more quickly in case of emergencies and to access essential resources they can use to improve their safety. The website itself was developed with the specific requirements of the East and Horn of Africa in mind, and is designed to work with low bandwidth Internet or on mobile devices.
Every element of DefendDefenders’ new brand represents the changes over the years, without losing sight where it came from: from prominent features in the logo, such as the shield which remains the core of its identity, to a font inspired by anti-apartheid activist Stephen Biko.
Source: DefendDefenders | East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Africa, african NGOs, african region, branding, DefendDefenders, East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, Human Rights Defenders, website
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 