Archive for the 'human rights' Category
December 18, 2013
Today, 18 December 2013, Scoop News brings the sad news that Palestinian Human Rights Defender Dr. Eyad El-Sarraj, Palestinian psychiatrist and Commissioner-General of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens’ Rights, passed away in Gaza a few hours ago. Born in Beersheva, Palestine on 27 April 1944, Dr El-Sarraj arrived with his family in Gaza in 1948 as a refugee. He grew up to become the first psychiatrist to practice in Gaza, beginning in 1977. Dr El-Sarraj went on to found and direct the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme [GCMHP], which he established in 1990 to promote the mental well-being of three major target groups in the Palestinian community: children, women, and victims of organized violence and torture. “We strongly believe that there is a correlation between human rights and mental health, because sound mental health cannot be gained under violent circumstances, and human rights will not be respected in a society exposed to ongoing trauma,” states the organisation’s strategy document. His human rights work was not without cost – in 1996 he was arrested and tortured for condemning torture and violation of human rights by the Palestinian Authorities. In 1998 he received the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders [MEA], in 1997 the Physicians for Human Rights Award, and in 2010 the Swedish labour movement’s Olof Palme Prize. In the same year, Dr El-Sarraj was jointly awarded the Juan José López-Ibor prize in psychiatry, along with Professor Jules Angst, in recognition of his contribution to advancement of the rights and dignity of people with a mental illness, and his scientific research. Other notable activities include being a consultant to the Palestinian delegation at the Camp David 2000 Summit, and his appearance as an expert witness before the United Nations-mandated Goldstone Commission on the war crimes committed during Israel’s 2008-9 military offensive “Operation Cast Lead.” His evidence on the long-term psycho-social impacts of the conflict on civil society in Gaza was quoted in the final report. The light that Iyad El-Sarraj shone into some of the darkest corners of Palestine can not be dimmed by his death. “You are the window through which I can breathe,” one of his patients once told him. His legacy of hope, and a legion of Palestinians both taught and inspired by him, will continue his important work. During his acceptance speech at the MEA ceremony he said, “Receiving this award reminded me of one of the persons I left behind in prison. He said to me: ‘Don’t forget me… please… don’t forget me’.” The best we can do now, is the same for El Sarraj: Don’t forget him… please… don’t forget him!
via Palestinian Human Rights Defender Dies at 69 | Scoop News.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, MEA | 1 Comment »
Tags: Camp David 2000, death, Dr. Eyad El-Sarraj, El-Sarraj, Eyad El-Sarraj, Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, Goldstone, human rights awards, Human rights defender, illegal detention, Israel, Juan José López-Ibor, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, MEA, MEA 1998, mental-health, Olof Palme Prize, Palestine, Palestinian community, Palestinian Human Rights Defender, Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens’ Rights, Physicians for Human Rights Award, Psychiatry, torture, UN, victims of torture
December 16, 2013
On December 12, 2013, the Anti-Discrimination Centre (ADC) “Memorial” was officially declared a “foreign agent” by the Leninsky District Court of St Petersburg, and was ordered to register as such with the Ministry of Justice, according to information received by the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders. Today, the court unexpectedly established that all the activities of ADC “Memorial” fall under the definition of “performing the functions of a foreign agent”. Accordingly, for the first time, a court has directly labelled a human rights NGO a “foreign agent”, and did not just order it to register as such. This decision could pave the way to increased harassment of all human rights organisations in the Russian Federation. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, OMCT | 1 Comment »
Tags: ADC Memorial, CAT, Center for Social Policy and Gender Studies, Coming Out, controversial restrictions, European Union, FIDH, Foreign agent, foreign agent law, foreign funding, funding restrictions, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, judicial harassment, Non-governmental organization, Observatory for the Protection of HRDs, OMCT, Russia, Tolekan Ismailova, trial observation, United Nations Convention Against Torture, Women of the Don
December 16, 2013
On 16 December Amnesty International came out with a special report on the death threats and intimidation by armed groups and state security forces in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo [North Kivu] over the past year have, with the aim of silencing human rights defenders, even after the defeat of M23. The report “Better to die while speaking the truth” details the heightened clampdown on human rights defenders by armed groups and the national security forces since the crisis escalated last 
year. “The whole population is vulnerable to human rights abuses in North Kivu and those speaking out to protect these people are deliberately targeted from all sides,” says Sarah Jackson, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in AI, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Amnesty International, death threats, Democratic Republic of Congo, eastern congo, extrajudicial killings, harassment, human rights, human rights abuses, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, intimidation, North Kivu, paramilitary, Pascal Kabungulu, rape, Sarah Jackson, sexual abuse
December 15, 2013
On 15 December the Latin American Herald reported that the founder of a Chinese civil rights group known as the New Citizens’ Movement has been formally charged with disturbing public order and could face trial this month. The charges against Xu Zhiyong, whose group promotes upholding the Chinese constitution and reigning in the power of Communist Party leaders, were filed at the recommendation of the Beijing police, according to the China Human Rights Defenders organization.Dissidents who attempt to mount protests in China are frequently charged with disrupting public order. Xu’s attorney, Zhang Qingfang, said it was suspicious how quickly the prosecutor’s office filed the charges after receiving the police’s recommendation, adding that authorities may want the trial held over the Christmas holidays so there is less international media attention. Beijing police said Xu, who was arrested in August, “used tactics to organize and carry out a series of criminal activities, including distributing prohibited pamphlets in public places and organizing disturbances outside government installations.” The charges against Xu come shortly after another activist from that same movement, high-profile businessman Wang Gongquan, pleaded guilty to “disrupting public order” a few months after his arrest. The former close associate of Xu’s said he would cut ties with the founder of the New Citizens’ Movement, the South China Morning Post reported earlier this month, citing two sources familiar with the case.
via Latin American Herald Tribune – Chinese Prosecutors Charge Activist with Disturbing Public Order.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: anti corruption, Beijing, Beijing police, China, China Human Rights Defenders, Chinese constitution, Communist Party, Communist Party of China, freedom of expression, freedom to demonstrate, human rights, Human rights defender, Latin American Herald Tribune, New Citizens’ Movement, Public-order crime, South China Morning Post, Wang Gongquan, Xu Zhiyong
December 14, 2013
(Photo Courtesy-Dhwanil Kapasi)
To create awareness among the masses, the Flashpoint Human Rights Film Festival was held from 12-14 December 2013 in Mumbai, India. The three-day film festival was organised by Solaris Pictures in association with ACEE – The Third Eye and Movies That Matter and Alliance Francaise de Bombay. The third edition of the film festival was held at Alliance Francaise and entry was Entry free. The films screened included
One Day after Peace
Forbidden Voices
Salma
Inshallah Kashmir
Reportero
High Tech Low Life
United in Anger
Shahid
Bottle Masala in Moile
Mumbai hosts Third edition of Flashpoint Human Rights Film Festival from 12-14 December – Mumbai – DNA.
Posted in films, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: film, film festival, Flashpoint Human Rights Film Festival, human rights, human rights films, India, Mumbai, Solaris Pictures
December 14, 2013
Laila Alawa in a post on PolicyMic of 13 December puts a good question:
should award givers not take care in selecting the one who hands out the award? She does not mince her words in stating that
Queen Noor of Jordan was the wrong choice by the
Thomson Reuters Foundation as she does not uphold the qualities that this foundation wants to reward.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Alaa Murabit, awards, human rights awards, India, Jordan, Libya, London Trust Women Conference, Neha Dixit, Queen Noor, Queen Noor of Jordan, Reuters, South Asia, thomson reuters foundation, Trust Women Awards, women human rights defenders, Women's rights
December 14, 2013
A number of protection mechanisms exist at the international, regional and national levels for the protection of Human Rights Defenders at risk. The Special Rapporteur at UN level is the prime example. We have been very fortunate with the first two mandate holders (Hina Jilani and Margaret Sekaggya) and it is crucial to ensure that the next Rapporteur in April 2014 will be of the same caliber. While in Geneva last week I came across Ravindran Daniel a human rights lawyer from India with whom I worked together in the International Commission of Jurists a long time ago. He told me – with his usual modesty – that he is a candidate for the post of HRD rapporteur. He may not have a big lobby machinery to support him but I think he should be seriously considered. Here a bit more about his impressive background. Please spread the word. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: Amnesty International, Candidate, East Timor, Hina Jilani, Human right, human rights, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, International Commission of Jurists, Mahidol University, Margaret Sekaggya, Ravindran Daniel, UN Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, United Nations Special Rapporteur
December 14, 2013
The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) is currently seeking to recruit a FULL TIME INTERN for the Urgent Campaigns and the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders. The non-remunerated position should be filled as soon as possible. Duration of the internship: minimum 3 months.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Advocacy Organizations, Human right, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights defender, internships, job opportunity, Observatory, Observatory for the Protection of HRDs, OMCT, spanish, United Nations, vacancy, World Organisation Against Torture
December 13, 2013
62 regional and international organizations expressed their outrage over the Lao Government’s ongoing failure to shed light on the enforced disappearance of prominent human rights defender Sombath Somphone. Sunday 15 December 2013 will mark the one-year anniversary of Sombath’s disappearance. Sombath was last seen on the evening of December 15, 2012 in Vientiane. Closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage showed that police stopped Sombath’s car at a police post. Within minutes after being stopped, unknown individuals forced him into another vehicle and drove away. Analysis of the CCTV footage shows that Sombath was taken away in the presence of police officers. This fact supports a finding of government complicity. Despite the Lao Government’s pledge to “thoroughly and seriously” investigate Sombath’s disappearance, the authorities’ probe has been inadequate and unproductive and there has been no progress in the investigation.
Sombath’s enforced disappearance is not an isolated incident. To this day, the whereabouts of nine people, two women, Kingkeo and Somchit, as well as seven men, Soubinh, Souane, Sinpasong, Khamsone, Nou,Somkhit, and Sourigna, arbitrarily detained by Lao security forces in November 2009 in various locations across the country remain unknown. The nine had planned peaceful demonstrations calling for democracy and respect of human rights. Also unknown are the whereabouts of Somphone Khantisouk, the owner of an ecotourism guesthouse and an outspoken critic of Chinese-sponsored agricultural projects that were damaging the environment in the northern province of Luang Namtha. He disappeared after uniformed men abducted him in January 2007. Signed by: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Asia, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Burma, CCTV, civil society organisations, disappearance, Forced disappearance, Human right, Human Rights Defenders, illegal detention, kidnapping, NGOs, Sombath Somphone, Vientiane
December 13, 2013
On 12 December 2013 Tasnim Nazeer published a list of 5 women human rights defenders who in spite of setbacks in the “Arab Spring” have no plans to stop fighting:
- Tawakkol Karman. The first Yemeni and the first Arab woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize. A Yemeni journalist, human rights activist and politician member of the Al-Islah political party, Karman is the leader of the renowned group “Women Journalists Without Chains,” which she co-founded in 2005. She became the international public face of the Yemeni “Arab Spring” uprising in 2011. The people of Yemen know her as the “Iron Woman” and “Mother of the Revolution” due to her courage in sticking up for human rights injustices in Yemen.
- Razan Ghazzawi Razan, an award-winning Syrian blogger, campaigner and human rights activist. She has been actively involved in the events during the Syrian Civil War, and has been particularly outspoken on activists’ arrests and the violations of human rights committed by the Bashar al Assad regime.Razan, who has been arrested by the Syrian regime several times and is forbidden to leave Syria, was named as an “iconic blogger and leading activist” by The Telegraph as well as awarded the 2012’s Human Rights Defenders at Risk award by the Dublin-based Front Line Defenders foundation.
- Moushira Mahmoud Khattab, an Egyptian human rights activist, former politician and diplomat. She has previously held the positions as Minister of Family & Population as well as ambassador to South Africa, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Khattab is a renowned human rights activist who speaks up for the rights of children and women in Egypt and the MENA region. Her efforts to advocate human rights have been recognized internationally through numerous awards, including the two highest honors that can be bestowed on any foreign national in South Africa and Italy.
- Nawal El Saadawi, an Egyptian feminist writer, human rights activist, physician and psychiatrist. Saadawi has authored many books on the subject of women and Islam and advocates human rights issues involving women. The founder and president of the Arab Women’s Solidarity Association and co-founder of the Arab Association for Human Rights, she has been awarded numerous honorary degrees on three continents.
- Manal al-Sharif. Women’s rights activist from Saudi Arabia who helped start a groundbreaking women’s right to drive campaign in 2011. An outspoken voice on the rights of women in the Kingdom, she was detained and released on 21 May and rearrested the following day on the conditions of returning for questioning if she were to continue talking to the media about rights for women to drive in Saudi Arabia.
via Five Women Human Rights Activists who are Changing the Middle East | Informed Comment.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 3 Comments »
Tags: Arab spring, Bashar al-Assad, Egypt, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, Manal al-Sharif, MENA, Middle East, Nawal El Saadawi, Razan Ghazzawi Razan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Syrian Civil War, Tawakkol Karman, women human rights defenders, Yemen
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 