Archive for the 'human rights' Category
August 14, 2013
Many of us have been looking forward to the first expressions of policy and position by the new US Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power. Thanks to Mark Leon Goldberg in UN Dispatch of 12 August 2013 there is now a confirmation that she does not intend to drop her earlier interest in Human Rights Defenders. I decided to copy the piece in toto and let you decide for yourselves: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: activist community, diplomacy, Foreign Policy, human rights activists, Human Rights Defenders, International Rescue Committee, Invisible Children, Mark Leon Goldberg, Samantha Power, Susan Rice, UN, UN Ambassador, UN Dispatch, United Nations, United States
August 14, 2013
Special Rapporteur Richard Falk. UN Photo/Jess Hoffman
On 13 August 2013 a group of 5 United Nations independent human rights experts expressed deep concern at the alleged ongoing judicial harassment, intimidation and abusive treatment directed against Issa Amro, a prominent Palestinian human rights defender. Mr. Amro, a founder of the non-governmental organizations Youth Against Settlements and Hebron Defenders, was arrested and detained 20 times in 2012, and six times in 2013, without being charged
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | 2 Comments »
Tags: Amro, Frank La Rue, harassment, Hebron Defenders, Human right, Human rights defender, Israel, Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Issa Amro, Juan E. Méndez, Maina Kiai, Margaret Sekaggya, Non-governmental organization, Palestine, Richard Falk, United Nations, United Nations Human Rights Council, Youth Against Settlements
August 14, 2013
On 13 August 2013 the United Nations added its voice to the many to call for his immediate release of Adilur Rahman Khan, the director of Odhikar, a well-known human rights organization in the country. He was arrested at his home in the capital, Dhaka, on 10 August by plainclothes officers reportedly acting without a warrant, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights [OHCHR]. “We are calling on the Government of Bangladesh to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Khan, whose arrest might be linked to his work as human rights defender,” OHCHR spokesperson Liz Throssell told reporters in Geneva. She said Mr. Khan is reported to have been arrested under section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and
section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology Act, accused of publishing false information about violence by Government forces during demonstrations in May by the Islamist movement, Hefazat-e-Islami. Odhikar reported that 61 people had died during these protests, challenging the Government’s version of events, noted Ms. Throssell.She said that the day after his arrest, Mr. Khan was denied bail and ordered to be held on remand for five days. “He was allegedly denied access to a lawyer before his court hearing,” she added.
via United Nations News Centre – Bangladesh: UN urges immediate release of detained human rights defender.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Adilur Rahman Khan, arbitrary arrest, Bangladesh, Dhaka, freedom of information, Human right, human rights, Human rights defender, human rights organization, illegal detention, Khan, Liz Throssell, Politics of Bangladesh, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations, united nations news centre
August 14, 2013
Business Week reports on 14 August that rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Katanga province murdered a human-rights investigator who criticized their movement for committing abuses against civilians. Armed men from the secessionist Kata Katanga group [whose name means “cut out Katanga” in the Swahili language] forced their way into the victim’s house on 7 August before killing him, according to Scott Campbell, the director of the UN’s joint human-rights office in Congo. The UN mission, known as Monusco, wouldn’t release the victim’s name or organization for security reasons, Campbell said. “Monusco is gravely concerned by the arbitrary execution” of the activist, it said in a separate e-mailed statement that also called on Congolese authorities to protect human-rights defenders and their families. Almost 370,000 people have been displaced in the province as of July, mainly because of the violence, according to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
via Congo Rebels Execute Human-Rights Worker in Katanga Province – Businessweek.
Posted in human rights | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Africa, arbitrary execution, Congo, congo rebels, death, Democratic Republic of Congo, human rights, Human rights defender, human rights investigators, Katanga, Katanga Province, killing, Monusco, rebel groups, republic of congo, United Nations, United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
August 13, 2013
On 12 August Human Rights Watch issued a report on Ecuador and urged it to revoke a presidential decree that grants far-reaching powers to the government to oversee and dissolve nongovernmental organizations.
On June 4, 2013, President Rafael Correa adopted a decree [a similar decree in December 2010 was shelved after criticism] that creates new procedures for Ecuadorean nongovernmental organizations to obtain legal status and requires international organizations to undergo a screening process to seek permission to work in Ecuador. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: administrative rules, Bahrain, decree, Ecuador, foreign funding, freedom of association, HRW, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights Watch, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, NGOs, Non-governmental organization, Rafael Correa, Russia, Uganda, Venezuela
August 13, 2013
13 NGOs have signed an open letter concerning the situation in Bahrain in the light of the upcoming mass demonstration on 14 August. As it is short and to the point here is the full text copied from the FIDH website: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in FIDH, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: AI, Bahrain, Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, Bahrain Human Rights Society, Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, Bahrain Watch, Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights, Bahraini, Barack Obama, David Cameron, European-Bahraini Organization for Human Rights, FIDH, freedom of demonstration, Front Line (NGO), Gulf Centre for Human Rights, HRW, human rights, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights First, human rights organizations, IFEX, Manama, mass protests, Physicians for Human Rights
August 13, 2013
For those who think that the phenomenon of forced psychiatric treatment of human rights defenders has disappeared with the end of the cold war, here are two reminders from Front Line that this is unfortunately still continuing:
The first case is in the Ukraine and had at least a ‘happy’ ending: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Almaty, forced psychiatric treatment, Front Line (NGO), human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human Rights Defenders, Kazakhstan, Mental disorder, Psychiatric hospital, Psychiatry, Raisa Radchenko, Supreme Court, Ukraine, women human rights defenders, Zinaida Mukhortova
August 12, 2013
Kerry Kennedy writes in an opinion in the WashingtonPost of 12 August about how her organisation was called by the superintendent of Bucyrus City Schools to address the issue of bullying in the school. The Speak Truth To Power [STTP], human rights education curriculum offered by the Robert F. Kennedy Center is taught in schools around the world — from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to Pisa, Italy, from Stockholm to Chicago. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: bullying, Desmond Tutu, Elie Wiesel, Human Rights Defenders, human rights education, human rights organization, Juliana Dogbadzi, Kerry Kennedy, Phnom Penh, schools, Speak Truth to Power, United States, Washington Post
August 11, 2013
Reuters reports that China has arrested an activist on a charge of subversion and the latest sign that the authorities are hardening their stance toward dissent. Yang Lin, 45, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in films, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: anti corruption, Bangkok Post, Beijing, Charter 08, China, Chinese Human Rights Defenders, dissidents, illegal detention, Liu Xiaobo, Tiananmen Square, University of Hong Kong's China Media Project, video, Xi Jinping, Xu Zhiyong, Yang Lin
August 10, 2013
Maryam al-Khawaja (c) IBT
The International Business Times of 9 August reports that Maryam al-Khawaja, acting president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) has been prevented from boarding a British Airways flight from Copenhagen to Bahrain because of a ban issued by the government Bahrain. Why did the UK airline agreed to the ban without giving any motive for the blocking order or any advance notice?. “I had the flight this morning from Copenhagen and everything was fine. I did the online check-in yesterday,” she told IBTimes UK. “I was blocked at the boarding and told to check with the counter because there was a problem. The lady called the office in London who told her that there was a denied boarding message as a decision from Bahrain government”. Al-Khawaja holds dual Bahraini-Danish citizenship but has not renewed her Bahraini passport . Her father Abdulhadi and sister Zainab are in jail for their role in pro-democracy protests.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, Bahrain, Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, ban, BCHR, British Airways, Copenhagen, International Business Times, London, Maryam Alkhawaja, woman human rights defender
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 