Archive for the 'human rights' Category

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McGovern Foundation awards $73.5 million for human-centered Artificial Intelligence

January 6, 2025
McGovern Foundation awards $73.5 million for human-centered AI

The Boston-based Patrick J. McGovern Foundation has announced on 23 December 2024 grants totaling $73.5 million in 2024 in support of human-centered AI.

Awarded to 144 nonprofit, academic, and governmental organizations in 11 countries, the grants will support the development and delivery of AI solutions built for long-term societal benefit and the creation of institutions designed to address the opportunities and challenges this emerging era presents. Grants will support organizations leveraging data science and AI to drive tangible change in a variety of areas with urgency, including climate change, human rights, media and journalism, crisis response, digital literacy, and health equity.

Gifts include $200,000 to MIT Solveto support the 2025 AI for Humanity Prize; $364,000 to Clear Globalto enable scalable, multilingual, voice-powered communication and information channels for crisis-affected communities; $1.25 million to the Aspen Instituteto enhance public understanding and policy discourse around AI; and $1.5 million to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO) to advance ethical AI governance through civil society networks, policy frameworks, and knowledge resources.

Amnesty Internationalto support Amnesty’s Algorithmic Accountability Lab to mobilize and empower civil society to evaluate AI systems and pursue accountability for AI-driven harms ($750,000)

HURIDOCSto use machine learning to enhance human rights data management and advocacy ($400,000)

“This is not a moment to react; it’s a moment to lead,” said McGovern Foundation president Vilas Dhar. “We believe that by investing in AI solutions grounded in human values, we can harness technology’s immense potential to benefit communities and individuals alike. AI can amplify human dignity, protect the vulnerable, drive global prosperity, and become a force for good.”

https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/mcgovern-foundation-awards-73.5-million-for-human-centered-ai

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Amnesty Tech call for nominations for 3rd Digital Forensics Fellowship

January 6, 2025

On 2 January 2025 Amnesty Tech – a global collective of advocates, hackers, researchers, and technologists – announced the launch of the third Digital Forensics Fellowship (DFF).

This innovative Fellowship is an opportunity for 5 – 7 human rights defenders (HRDs), journalists, and/or technologists working in civil society organisations around the world to train with Amnesty Tech’s Security Lab to build skills and knowledge on advanced digital threats and forensic investigation techniques. This is a part-time Fellowship that will last 3-4 months and will come with a stipend.

Fellowship start and end date: The Fellowship is expected to run from April – July 2025.

Application Deadline, 23 January 2025 
Location: dependent upon the suitable applicant’s location.

Remuneration: Successful applicants will be given a stipend of £500/month for their time.

Background

Across the world, hard-won rights are being weakened and denied every day. Increasingly, much of the repression faced by HRDs and journalists begins online. Since 2017, Amnesty Tech’s investigations have exposed vast and well-orchestrated digital attacks against activists and journalists in countries such as Morocco, Egypt, Azerbaijan, Qatar, Serbia, Mexico and Pakistan.

Advanced technical capacity is needed in all world regions to tackle the mercenary spyware crisis. By fostering a more decentralised, global, and diverse network of well-trained incident responders and investigators, we can jointly contribute to more timely and effective protection of HRDs and journalists against unlawful surveillance.

The spyware landscape changes rapidly, and creativity and persistence are needed to research and identify new trends, tools, and tactics used to target civil society. The curriculum for the third edition of the DFF will be tailored to the cohort and will be future facing to prepare Fellows to work on current and future spyware threats. [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2024/05/16/two-young-human-rights-defenders-raphael-mimoun-and-nikole-yanez-on-tech-for-human-rights/]

Objectives and deliverables

Participants in the Digital Forensics Fellowship will be expected to:

  • Attend an in-person, week-long convening where the majority of trainings will be conducted. This training will take place in June 2025, the exact location is set to be confirmed shortly.
  • Dedicate approximately 10 – 12 hours per month to the Fellowship, outside of the convening, by participating in remote training sessions and through independent work outside of scheduled sessions to deepen understanding of training topics.
  • Engage with the programme cohort and the Security Lab during the in-person and remote trainings, and in discussion groups on an ad-hoc basis.

Essential Requirements

  • An understanding of the technical threats, digital attacks and challenges faced by journalists, HRDs, and civil society organisations in their local contexts.
  • Demonstrated interest in conducting investigations to identify digital attacks against civil society, with the goal of building resilience among civil society actors in the face of surveillance after the Fellowship.
  • Familiarity using command line tools and basic knowledge of scripting languages like Bash and Python to analyse data.
  • An understanding of how internet infrastructure works, for example the role of IP addresses, TLS certificates, and DNS queries.
  • Technical familiarity with GNU/Linux operating systems, as well as Android and iPhone systems.
  • Engaging with the English language as the primary language throughout the Fellowship.
  • Application instructions:

To apply, applicants will be required to submit the following via our recruitment system eArcu – please upload all relevant documents to the CV section of the application portal.

  1. A copy of your most recent CV.
  2. A cover letter explaining your motivation and interest in the Fellowship and outlining how you meet the essential requirements outlined in the job description.

Applications must be in PDF, Word, PowerPoint or Excel format.

Application Process:

Shortlisted applicants will be invited to complete a record video interview week commencing 10th February, answering a series of pre-set questions via video, which allows us to learn more about you and your suitability for the Fellowship. Successful applicants from this process will be invited to a Microsoft Teams interview with the panel week commencing 3rd March.

How to apply;

Careers | Amnesty International

Amnesty International

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Youth tell stories of human rights success

January 6, 2025

on 31 December 2024 the UN Human Rights Podcast showcases the stories of five of the members of the  Youth Advisory Board. The board is made up of young people who work on issues that mobilize and empower others to stand up for human rights. The Board is in partnership with Education Above All and Silatech, to empower young people, especially those in conflict and vulnerable situations.

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The 7th Human Rights summit of Southern Defenders took place in November in Johannesburg – reports Puleng Motaug

December 23, 2024

ACTSA intern Puleng Motaung reports back on the 7th Human Rights summit of Southern Defenders

Being at the Southern Human Rights Defenders summit in Johannesburg was exceptional, I had a chance to meet with people who put others’ wellbeing before their own. People who sacrifice their lives for the benefit of others. The greatest part was hearing survivors tell their traumatic stories first hand, hearing about the challenges that civil societies face, and learning about Khenana community, in South Africa, the murders that take place there and the trauma that the kids are going through, seeing their parents killed in front of them.

I had an opportunity to network with people from different organisations and backgrounds, and the outstanding interaction was with a lady named Zanele from Eswatini who works for Swavisa a struggling organisation that focuses on helping the victims of the 2021 uprising who got injured and can’t afford medication to treat their injuries due to financial strains.

Across the Southern African region, the civic space continues to shrink as governments suppress and silence civil societies. Many defenders have been imprisoned, injured and even killed in the fight for equality and dignity. The issue of Israel was also raised and that all civil societies must stand in solidarity with Gaza.

I met Robson Chere, a teacher and trade unionist, and the Secretary General of the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union (ARTUZ) in Zimbabwe, which advocates against teachers’ low wages, lack of electricity in rural schools and poor working conditions as well as unsafe learning conditions for students. Along with Namatai Kwekweza and Samuel Gwenzi, he was hauled off a plane by police on 31 July, then tortured and held without bail for 35 days by the Zimbabwe regime. Their release on bail only came after much international pressure.

When civil space is stifled, said Adriano Nuvunga, Chairperson of Southern Defenders, we lose the foundation of democracy. He continues that it is up to us to ensure that the elections across Southern Africa reflect true will of the people, fostering trust, inclusion and hope for a democratic future. “Together we must ensure that the future is one where justice, freedom and human rights prevail, where every voice is heard and every right is protected”.

Adriano Nuvunga’s statement had me wondering: what am I doing to better the future of the upcoming generation?

I learnt that being a Human Rights Defender (HRD) isn’t easy because of the traumatic experiences people go through, but Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights Defenders, said “don’t buy the narrative that it is the worst time ever to be a human rights defender”. The most important resources in civil space are networks, unity and trust. That gave me hope…

My takeaway as a young person is that I must stand up and lead the pack. It’s never been more necessary for people to band in solidarity with southern African Human Rights Defenders. We need to protect the civil space. It is about time we as young people go out and occupy spaces, because the youth are the heartbeat of the revolution.

‘We must protect the civil space’: report from the Southern Defenders human rights summit

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EUROPEAN MASTER’S DEGREE IN HUMAN RIGHTS & DEMOCRATISATION (EMA)

December 20, 2024

The European Master’s Programme in Human Rights and Democratisation (EMA)EMA is a one-year, full-time interdisciplinary programme that reflects the indivisible links between human rights, democracy, peace and development. The programme offers an action- and policy-oriented approach to studying human rights and democratization as well as offering an interdisciplinary approach to the intellectual frameworks that underpin human rights and democratization such as law, international relations, philosophy, history and anthropology.

While studying in a multicultural environment, students have the opportunity to be taught by leading academics representing the 43 EMA participating universities, representatives of international organizations (including the European Union, the United Nations and the Council of Europe), NGO experts and activists and human rights defenders.

EMA is both a residential and an exchange programme, structured in two semesters. Students spend their first semester (September to January) at the Global Campus of Human Rights headquarters in Venice. During the second semester they are hosted by one of the participating universities where they follow courses and prepare a research thesis.

The call for applications for the academic year 2025/2026 is now open

Deadline for both scholarship and self-funded applicants: 2 February 2025

Additional information can be found at: https://emahumanrights.org/

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10 December 2024: webinar on the critical role of documentation and technology in protecting defenders

December 18, 2024

On Human Rights Day, HURIDOCS hosted a webinar to showcase the critical role of documentation and technology in protecting defenders, advocating for the rights of those who are wrongfully detained and supporting those who are detained to claim their rights. This webinar featured four initiatives that recently collaborated with HURIDOCS to safeguard those who champion human rights:

  • The Observatory for Human Rights Defenders in Chiapas
  • SOS-Defenders
  • Detention Landscapes
  • Papuans Behind Bars

Welcoming remarks: Danna Ingleton, Executive Director, HURIDOCS Speakers:

  • Karla Jiménez Montoya, Movilidades Libres y Elegidas (CoLibres)
  • Giuseppe Scirocco, World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
  • Manon Louis, Border Violence Monitoring Network
  • Oliver Windridge, TAPOL

Moderator:

  • Matel Sow, Director of Programmes, HURIDOCS

For more information, visit https://huridocs.org

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The North-South Centre celebrates young people’s contributions to Human Rights

December 17, 2024
The North-South Centre celebrates young people's contributions to Human Rights

On Human Rights Day 2024, in the year of its 35th anniversary, the North-South Centre celebrated the invaluable contributions of young people to the promotion and protection of Human Rights. Over the years, youth have played important roles as experts, multipliers, representatives, and active participants in our initiatives.

Young people are essential stakeholders in any meaningful effort to protect and strengthen Human Rights. The new Human Rights Education for Youth (HEY) programme is a reflection of that approach. It seeks to contribute to an increased youth capacity to engage in Human Rights protection through further awareness about European and International standards, and how they can be used by young people to protect themselves and their communities. 

HEY joins a series of initiatives by the North South Centre where young people lead the way in championing Human Rights. These include the Rule of Law Youth Network, and the many activities in the field of Global Education and Youth Cooperation, such as the Youth Summer Universities that have engaged thousands of young people from all over the world. The youth focus was also present at the 2024 North-South intercultural conference, which resulted in the Kotor Declaration, with recommendations on youth initiatives to combat racist and xenophobic acts through computer systems.

https://www.coe.int/en/web/north-south-centre/-/the-north-south-centre-celebrates-young-people-s-contributions-to-human-rights

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Canadian Minister Joly announces funding for child human rights defenders and independent media

December 17, 2024

As the world marked Human Rights Day, Canada reiterated the importance of the protection and promotion of human rights defenders and their critical work. Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, announced $1.85 million in funding for two projects that support child human rights defenders and a free and independent media worldwide.

Canada is contributing $850,000 to a three-year project led by Child Rights Connect to empower, to protect and promote the rights of child human rights defenders, who are increasingly engaged in global human rights challenges, without the same legal protections as adults. This funding will help Child Rights Connect promote safe and sustainable human rights advocacy by child human rights defenders in Togo, Thailand, Moldova and Brazil.

Canada will also contribute an additional $1 million to the Global Media Defence Fund, bringing Canada’s total contribution to the fund to $4 million. Administered by UNESCO, the Global Media Defence Fund works to enhance the protection of journalists and media organizations so they can carry out their critical work without fear of violence, censorship or intimidation. The fund will also ensure public access to diverse and reliable sources of news and information. [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2024/02/12/investigative-journalism-in-arab-states-the-threats-to-journalists/]

“In the face of growing challenges to human rights globally, the work of human rights defenders and the protection of media freedom are more important than ever. Canada stands unwavering in its commitment to working with partners to safeguard and expand the protection and promotion of human rights defenders and journalists around the world.” – Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs

https://reliefweb.int/report/world/minister-joly-announces-support-human-rights-defenders-and-media-freedom

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Syrian human rights defender Mazen al-Hamada found dead in Sednaya prison

December 13, 2024

If the world knew about the extent of the brutality of Assad’s regime against its own people, it was in part because of Mazen, an activist who was an outspoken critic of the regime. On Sunday 8 December 2024, his body was found in the notorious “slaughterhouse”, Seydnaya prison in Damascus. It bore signs of horrific torture. A doctor who examined it told the BBC he had fractures, burn marks and contusions all over his body, allegations corroborated by Mazen’s family.

“It’s impossible to count the wounds on his body. His face was smashed and his nose was broken,” his sister Lamyaa said.

A protester when the uprising in Syria began in 2011, Mazen Al-Hamada was arrested and tortured. Released in 2013, he was given asylum in the Netherlands. He began to speak openly about what he was subjected to in prison. In the documentary Syria’s Disappeared by Afshar Films, Mazen describes how he was raped, his genitals clamped, and how his ribs were broken by a guard jumping on his chest over and over again.

While in asylum, Mazen’s nephew Jad Al-Hamada says he began suffering from severe depression and other mental health issues. …In 2020, he decided to return to Syria.

“The government told him he had a deal and that he would be safe. He was also told that his family would be arrested and killed if he didn’t return,” Lamyaa said. He was arrested as soon as he arrived in the country. And his family believes he was killed after rebels took Hama last week, shortly before the regime fell.

Ruth Michaelson in the Guardian of 10 December 2024 adds

Hamada was detained and tortured alongside tens of thousands of people after the 2011 uprising against Assad’s rule. “Mazen had endured torture so cruel, so unimaginable, that his retellings carried an almost otherworldly weight. When he spoke, it was as if he stared into the face of death itself, pleading with the angel of mortality for just a little more time,” wrote Hamada’s friend, the photographer and director Sakir Khader. He “became one of the most important witnesses against Assad’s regime”, he said.

The Syrian network for human rights (SNHR) recorded 15,102 deaths caused by torture in prisons run by the regime between March 2011 and July this year. It said 100,000 more people were missing and thought to be detained, and some might be found now that prison populations have been set free.

Fadel Abdulghany, the head of SNHR, which tracks people who have been “forcibly disappeared”, broke down on live television this week as he said that all 100,000 people had probably “died under torture” in prison.

Hamada was released in 2013 and granted asylum in the Netherlands in 2014, after which he began touring western capitals, bringing audiences to tears as he showed them his scars and described what he had endured at the hands of the Syrian authorities. Then, in a decision that terrified and confused his friends and rippled through the community of dissident exiles, Hamada disappeared in early 2020 after seemingly deciding to return to Syria.

That someone who had experienced the worst of Syria’s torture chambers would choose to return led many to believe he was enticed to do by elements of Assad’s regime to prevent him from speaking out.

Rebel forces said they found 40 corpses piled in the morgue at Sednaya showing signs of torture, with an image circulating online showing Hamada among them.

The discovery of his body indicated he was probably killed shortly before prison inmates were liberated by insurgents. Khader described his friend’s suffering as “the unimaginable agony of a man who had risen from the dead to fight again, only to be condemned to a slow death in the west”.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/dec/10/syrian-activist-who-symbolised-assad-brutality-found-dead-in-sednaya-prison

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c89xgke2x7lo

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Nominations for the Rafto Prize 2025 open

December 13, 2024

See https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/A5043D5E-68F5-43DF-B84D-C9EF21976B18

Each year the Rafto award goes to a person or an organization who stands up for human rights and democracy. Please make a nomination. Annual deadline is 1 February.

Go to nomination form

Criteria

  • A candidate should be active in the struggle for the ideals and principles underlying the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
  • A candidate’s struggle for human rights should represent a non-violent perspective.
  • A candidate may be a person or an organization, and two or more candidates may share the prize.

Deadline for nominations: 1 February.
Nominations received after 1 February will be taken into consideration for the Rafto Prize the following year.

Who makes the decision?

Nominations for the Rafto Prize are received and evaluated by the Prize Committee. Recipient(s) is selected by the Board of Directors.

When is the announcement the Rafto Prize?

Each year we announce the recipient of the Rafto Prize in the end of September at a press conference at the Rafto House in Bergen. The announcement is live streamed on our website and on Facebook.

Questions?

For questions regarding nominations, please contact the Secretary of the Committee, Liv Unni Stuhaug, livunni.stuhaug@rafto.no

https://www.rafto.no/en/rafto-prize/nominasjoner

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