Archive for the 'human rights' Category
January 25, 2016
The well-known human rights defender Shami Chakrabarti is leaving her job as Director of Liberty and the NGO Justice Scotland organized a public event in there honor at the Faculty of Advocates’ Laigh Hall with an open and informative discussion ranging from the ISIS threat to authoritarian politics and defending the Human Rights Act. The event, the second in the JUSTICE Scotland “Beyond Law” series hosted by the Faculty, was praised by Lord Hodge, the UK Supreme Court Justice, who is chairing the series. “What a treat,” he stated, describing Ms Chakrabarti as a “very articulate and humane voice for libertarian views.”
Ms Chakrabarti herself was delighted to have taken part. She said: “I really enjoyed it. I thought the contributions from the floor in particular showed what a thoughtful bunch of lawyers you have here, and how concerned they are, not only about the law but the way it shapes the kind of society we want to live in.”
Ms Chakrabarti recalled how she had caused alarm among family and friends when, after joining the English bar, she took a post in the Home Office, others not seeing her as a likely candidate for the civil service. And when she then left to become in-house counsel at Liberty, there was more consternation.
After a mere one day of “blue sky thinking” with Liberty the world was changed by the awful events of 9/11. “Of course it was a game changer but I don’t think it was the beginning of our authoritarian politics. That had started earlier – attacks on judges, lawyers, legal aid, migrants. In our age, governments can feel quite powerless because the challenges are global and are not going to be solved by one government or another, yet senior politicians have to be seen to be doing something,” she suggested.
.. All around the world, she added, attacks were being made on human rights defenders. “It is happening in our country, and we cannot let it continue,” she said. “I think we have to defend the Human Rights Act and the ECHR, otherwise we are going in completely the wrong direction.”
Source: Shami Chakrabarti wows audience at JUSTICE event – Scottish Legal News
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Tags: European Convention on Human Rights, Human Rights Act (UK), Human Rights Defenders, Justice Scotland, Liberty, Lord Hodge, Scotland, Shami Chakrabarti, UK, university level education, woman human rights defender
January 22, 2016
Applications are invited for internships in the Human Rights Unit of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Ireland. Human Rights are accorded a high priority in Irish foreign policy. The positions in the Human Rights Unit are for a period of up to eleven months, with the first position commencing in April 2016. A shortlist of suitable candidates will be established from which the internship positions will be filled. Successful candidates will possess inter alia the following qualifications/experience:
- first or second class honours degree in Law, International Relations, Human Rights, Politics or another relevant discipline is required
- post-graduate or professional qualification is desirable
- good knowledge of International and/or Human Rights Law
- Work experience, preferably of at least 6 months duration, with organisations working in the field of human rights would be desirable.
- Good computer skills.
Candidates wishing to apply for the intern positions should complete the application form (please do NOT submit CVs). Make sure that you are using the 2016 application form. Please use a clearly legible computer font to complete this form. Handwritten applications will not be accepted. Completed application forms, clearly marked, INTERN APPLICATION, should be submitted by close of business, Thursday, 4 February, 2016 to:
Mr. Colin Wrafter
Director
Human Rights Unit
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade 79-80 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2
Email: hruintern[at]dfa[dot]ie
https://www.dfa.ie/media/dfa/alldfawebsitemedia/aboutus/HRU-Intern-advertisement-2016-ENG.pdf
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Tags: foreign policy of Ireland, internships, Ireland, job opportunity, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, vacancy
January 21, 2016
Peter Dahlin appears on China state TV for his confession. CCTV/Twitter/Tom Phillips
The Hong Kong bookseller Gui Minhai, after being kidnapped by Chinese security services, made a confession on CCTV earlier this week. Now also Peter Dahlin a Swede working for a NGO [CUAWG] in China has made a “scripted” television confession following his detention earlier this week. [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2016/01/13/the-plight-of-human-rights-defenders-in-china-just-two-weeks-into-the-new-year/] In a TV appearance on the state-run CCTV news channel, Dahlin said: “I violated China’s law through my activities here. I’ve caused harm to the Chinese government. I’ve hurt the feelings of the Chinese people. I apologise sincerely for this and I am very sorry that this ever happened. I have been given good food, plenty of sleep and I have suffered no mistreatments of any kind.”
Cases the CUAWG have worked on include that of Qi Chonghuai, a journalist and writer who was imprisoned for reporting on Communist party corruption, and Tulip Award winner Ni Yulan, a lawyer who opposed illegal demolitions and was beaten, harrased and imprisoned by police.
Source: Peter Dahlin: Swedish human rights law activist detained in China makes a ‘scripted’ confession | Asia | News | The Independent
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 8 Comments »
Tags: bookseller, China, crackdown, CUAWG, detention, forced confession, freedom of association, Gui Minhai, Hong Kong, Ni Yulan, Peter Dahlin, Qi Chonghuai, Tulip award
January 21, 2016
Nathalie Margi writes in Open Democracy of 6 December 2015 that throughout Southeast Asia, hundreds of women environmental human rights defenders have been jailed, attacked and defamed as threats to “national security”. They remain without adequate resources, protection and funding for their work. In the piece entitled “Defending land and community: women on the frontlines of climate justice”, she says inter alia: Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Asia, Bai Ali Indayla, climate, COP21, environmental issues, Eva Bande, indigenous minorities, Indonesia, Jull Takaliuang, N-Peace Prize, Open Democracy, Philippines, profiles, South-east asia, Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights (UAF), women human rights defenders
January 20, 2016
And while we are on groups of UN human rights experts, also on 19 January three Rapporteurs welcomed Iran’s release of four Iranian-Americans in an apparent prisoner swap with the United States, and called on Tehran to pave the way for the freeing of all remaining unlawfully detained prisoners. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Ahmed Shaheed, Amir Hekmati, David Kaye, death penalty, freedom of expression, Heiner Bielefeldt, Iran, Jason Rezaian, release, Saeed Abedini, UN Special Rapporteurs, United Nations, USA
January 20, 2016
A group of five United Nations human rights experts have joined the debate in France on security. Yesterday, 19 January it warned that the current state of emergency in France and the country’s law on surveillance of electronic communications impose excessive and disproportionate restrictions on fundamental freedoms.
UN SG Ban Ki-moon pays tribute to the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris on 13 November. 6 December 2015. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
In a list of concerns to the French Government, the independent experts stressed a lack of clarity and precision on provisions regarding several state of emergency and surveillance laws that relate to the legitimate rights of privacy and freedoms – of expression, peaceful assembly and association.
To guarantee the rule of law and prevent arbitrary procedures, the experts recommended the adoption of prior judicial controls over anti-terrorism measures. Since the recent terrorist attacks in France, the state of emergency law in force, which temporarily expands the executive powers in the fight against terrorism, only allows judicial review a posteriori.
The UN experts also noted that the November 2015 law on surveillance of international electronic communications expands the executive power over the collection, analysis and storage of communications content or metadata – without requiring prior authorization or judicial review.
The UN experts also expressed alarm that environmental activists in France have been under house arrest in connection with the state of emergency invoked following the November attacks. “These measures do not seem to adjust to the fundamental principles of necessity and proportionality,” they said, highlighting the risks faced by fundamental freedoms in the fight against terrorism.
Calling on France not to extend the state of emergency beyond 26 February 2016, they said, that: “While exceptional measures may be required under exceptional circumstances, this does not relieve the authorities from demonstrating that these are applied solely for the purposes for which they were prescribed, and are directly related to the specific objective that inspired them.”
The independent experts – David Kaye, Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression; Maina Kiai, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; Michel Forst, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Ben Emmerson, Special Rapporteur on the protection and promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism; and Joseph Cannataci, Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy – expressed their solidarity and deepest sympathy to the victims of the terrorist attacks committed in France and many other places in the world.
Source: United Nations News Centre – UN experts urge France to protect fundamental freedoms while combatting terrorism
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: anti-terrorist laws, Ben Emmerson, David Kaye, environmental activists, France, Joseph Cannataci, Maina Kiai, mass surveillance, Michel Forst, Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, state of emergency, UN Special Rapporteurs
January 19, 2016
On 18 January 2016 Human Rights Watch published an open Letter from Legal Experts on detained lawyers in China. [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2015/07/29/the-remarkable-crackdown-on-lawyers-in-china-in-july-2015/]. The letter, reproduced below, tries to link the Chinese leaders to their earlier promises that ‘China is a country ruled by law’ and that ‘every individual Party organisation and Party member must abide by the country’s constitution and laws and must not take the Party’s leadership as a privilege to violate them.’ It concludes that the events described appear entirely contrary to those commitments. The list of signatories is impressive. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Asma Jahangir, Bao Longjun, China, crackdown, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights Watch, illegal detention, judicial harassment, lawyers, Manfred Nowak, Pu Zhiqiang, Wang Yu, William Schabas, Xie Yanyi, Zhou Shifeng
January 18, 2016
In an article she wrote in Arabic for Global Voices on 15 March 2015, Yara Bader said: “Three years ago, in Damascus, we were surrounded by those whom we knew and loved. Today, so many of them are detained, lost, kidnapped, or fighting for their lives and for the chance to remain on faraway beaches around the world. Alone, all of us, with tired souls but with white hearts.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Alison Des Forges Award, freedom of expression, human rights awards, Human Rights Defenders, IFEX, journalists, Mazen Darwish, profiles, SCM, Syria, Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, woman human rights defender, Yara Bader
January 17, 2016
Pushkar Raj (who taught political science in Delhi University and was the National General Secretary of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) in India and is now based in Melbourne) published a piece entitled “Who will speak for the Human Rights Defenders?” in Samaj Weekly and reproduced by TwoCircles.net on 17 January 2016. In this piece he concludes that the Bombay high court judgment cancelling Prof. Sai Baba’s bail and initiating contempt proceedings against the writer Arundhati Roy is a major blow to the human rights defenders in India and a departure from the courts’ support to the cause of human rights. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: anti-terrorist laws, Arundhati Roy, contempt of court, freedom of expression, independence of the judiciary, India, People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Pushkar Raj, Sai Baba, TwoCircles.net, writer
January 17, 2016
In 2010 businessman and philanthropist George Soros gave $100 million to Human Rights Watch (if the same sum was matched in private contributions). This time a more modest but still considerable sum goes Connecticut. Georges Soros and Gary Gladstein Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: donation, funding, Gary Gladstein, George Soros, HRW, human rights education, Human Rights program of the University of Connecticut, Kathryn Libal, teaching, university level education, University of Connecticut, USA
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 