Archive for the 'human rights' Category
June 3, 2013
The FIDH Representative to the UN in Geneva (http://www.fidh.org) invites people to a side event entitled: RUSSIA & BELARUS: JOINT OFFENSIVE AGAINST THE HUMAN RIGHTS SYSTEM, which will be held on 5 June 2013, in room VIII of the Palais des Nations, from 2pm – 4pm.
Participants:
Mr. Miklos Haraszti, Special Rapporteur on Belarus (TBC)
Olga Abramenko, Director of ADC Memorial (Russia) who was recently charged for publishing a report entitled “Roma, Migrants, Activists: Victims of Police Abuse” and submitting it to the UN Committee Against Torture.
Valentin Stefanovitch, Deputy Head of Human Rights Center VIASNA (Belarus) who will provide context on the Belarusian situation and draw comparisons with the harassment of Russian NGOs.
Dimitry Kolbasin, Head of the Information Department of AGORA (Russia) who will focus on the increasing repression of Russian human rights NGOs.
Valery Sozaev, Advocacy Manager, LGBT Network (Russia) who will specifically tackle issues facing LGBT people
Posted in human rights | Leave a Comment »
Tags: ADC Memorial, AGORA, Belarus, FIDH, human rights, LGBT Network, Miklos Haraszti, Minsk, Non-governmental organization, palais des nations, Russia, russian ngos, side event, Special Rapporteur, UN Human Rights Council
June 3, 2013
Last week I informed you that the Geneva-based NGO, International Service for Human Rights Finally, organised a side-event on business and human rights defenders (co-sponsored by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and promised to keep you informed of the outcome. Thanks to the quick reply from Phil Lynch, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: business, corporate accountability, environmental issues, Geneva, Human right, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, International Service for Human Rights, ISHR, Non-governmental organization, Phil Lynch, side event, United Nations Human Rights Council, Working Group
June 3, 2013
Via Protection on Line I got this fairly detailed report by Katherine Ronderos done for AWID on the situation of women human rights defenders in Sudan. It tells how the Sudanese people, inspired by the Arab spring and led by women and youth, took the streets of Sudan demanding regime change in 2011. Authorities violently cracked down on these demonstrations, detaining more than 150 women, who were sexually abused or tortured, injured and beaten in the protests. Since June 2012, new protests against the Sudanese regime have intensified violence against women human rights defenders.
via Illegal detention of Women Human Rights Defenders in the midst of the border conflict of Sudan | | ProtectionlineProtectionline.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Arab, Arab spring, AWID, Human right, human rights, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, illegal detention, June 2012, Katherine Ronderos, Sudan, Sudanese, women human rights defenders, youth
June 2, 2013
Nine North-Korean defectors, aged 15 to 23, entered Laos through China on 9 May 2013 and were caught by Laotian authorities on 16 May. They were sent back home on Tuesday 28 May via China. [Under North Korean law, defectors face a minimum of five years of hard labour and as much as life in prison or the death penalty in cases deemed particularly serious] UN Human Rights Commissioner, Navi Pillay, urged Chinese and Laotian authorities to publicly clarify the fate of the nine defectors and the conditions of their return, which apparently violated international law, UN deputy spokesperson
said. “The High Commissioner’s office is dismayed that the governments of Laos and China appear to have abrogated their non-refoulement obligations, especially given the vulnerability of that group, all of whom are reported to be orphans” The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said on Thursday in a statement that it is trying to locate the defectors and expressed concern that they did not receive a chance to have their asylum claims assessed.
via UN protests return of N Korean defectors | News24.
Posted in human rights, UN | Leave a Comment »
Tags: China, defectors, Eduardo del Buey, human rights commissioner, Laos, Navi Pillay, non-refoulement, North Korea, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, refugees, Seoul, South Korea, UN, un high commissioner for refugees, UNHCR, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
June 1, 2013
AI Canada informs that a report released on May 28 2013 in Canada by the federal Privacy Commissioner highlights a troubling pattern of invasive and unwarranted government surveillance of Canadian human rights defender Cindy 
Blackstock. Dr. Blackstock is the Executive Director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada, a prominent non-governmental organization promoting equitable access to education, health care and other services for First Nations children. Government documents obtained by Dr. Blackstock show that two federal departments monitored her personal Facebook page, tracked people who posted to her page, and sent staff to take notes on her public presentations, all in an attempt to find information that might help the government fight a discrimination complaint that Dr. Blackstock’s organization is pursuing before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. The Privacy Commissioner concluded that the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and the Department of Justice went too far in their online monitoring of Dr. Blackstock. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in AI, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: AI, AI Canada, Blackstock, Canada, Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, Cindy Blackstock, department of aboriginal affairs, discrimination complaint, facebook, federal privacy commissioner, First Nations, Human right, Human rights defender, Indigenous People, privacy, right to privacy, woman human rights defender
June 1, 2013
On 30 May 2013, human rights defender Ms Ye Haiyan was detained by police after being assaulted at her home in Guangxi province, China. Ye Haiyan is an advocate for the rights of sex workers and people living with HIV/AIDS. She has been consistently targeted over the past number of years because of her work.
Just before 12pm on 30 May 2013, a group of plainclothes women arrived at Ye Haiyan’s home and began to physically attack her. Ye Haiyan was alone with her 13-year-old daughter at the time and managed to send out a series of messages on Twitter appealing for help and asking her followers to report the incident Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights | Leave a Comment »
Tags: assault, cases of child abuse, child abuse, China, Frontline Defenders, Guangxi, guangxi province china, Hainan, hiv aids, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, human rights of women, rights of children, self-defence, sex workers, woman human rights defender, Ye Haiyan
May 31, 2013
A peaceful demonstration in Tbilisi, Georgia, on 17 May 2013, to celebrate International Day Against Homophobia was attacked by thousands of counter-protesters and human rights defenders were injured as you will have seen from the widely disseminated television images. The LGBTI rights rally had been scheduled to begin at 1pm on 17 May 2013, outside the former Parliament building on Rustaveli Avenue. However, an hour earlier, counter-protesters Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: equality, facebook, freedom of assembly, freedom of demonstration, Freedom Square, Front Line Defenders, gay rights, Georgia, homophobia, Human rights defender, Identoba, International Day Against Homophobia, LGBT, LGBTI, orthodox priests, Tbilisi, tbilisi georgia, threats
May 31, 2013
(Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi)
In the context of restrictive legislation to hinder the work of human rights defenders, the Egyptian case deserves urgent attention now. The law on NGOs is being rewritten in this important country and others in the region may follow the example. Despite recent amendments Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in AI, CIHRS, HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | 1 Comment »
Tags: AI, Arab Network for Human Rights Information, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, Civil society, controversial restrictions, Egypt, empowering civil society, foreign funding, Forum of Independent Human Rights Organisations, freedom of association, funding, HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights Watch, Middle East, Morsi, Navanethem Pillay, NGO, NGOs, Non-governmental organization, Shura Council, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Special Rapporteur
May 30, 2013
The National Union of Banking Employees NUBE in Malaysia will be filling cases against former Maybank Chief Executive Officer Abdul Wahid Omar at the Jalan Duta Court. Wahid has been appointed as a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department for Economic Planning. What is interesting is that the trade union takes a proactive stand by saying that someone who has shown blatant disregard for workers rights should not be a minister in the government!
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: freedom of expression, Geneva, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, ILO, international labour organisation, J Solomon, labour movement, labour rights, magistrate court, Malaysia, Maybank, NUBE, Prime Minister's Department, Trade union
May 30, 2013
The Grupo Interdisciplinario por los Derechos Humanos GIDH (Interdisciplinary Group for Human Rights), based in Medellín, Colombia, has announced that it has been forced to close its offices based on information that threats received by the organisation in the last months would be realised within the next hours. GIDH is a not-for-profit organisation working with victims of state violence. Front Line Defenders Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: closure, Colombia, death threats, Frontline Defenders, GIDH, Human right, Human Rights and Liberties, Human Rights Defenders, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Interdisciplinary Group for Human Rights, Medellín, NGOs, persecution
The FIDH Representative to the UN in Geneva (http://www.fidh.org) invites people to a side event entitled: RUSSIA & BELARUS: JOINT OFFENSIVE AGAINST THE HUMAN RIGHTS SYSTEM, which will be held on 5 June 2013, in room VIII of the Palais des Nations, from 2pm – 4pm.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 