Archive for the 'human rights' Category
April 17, 2013
Last week I reported on the Natalia bracelet and yesterday my eye fell on a lengthy piece posted on Amnesty International‘s Livewire by Technology and Human Rights Project Officer Tanya O’Carroll. It describes how emerging digital tools will help activists and human rights defenders. http://livewire.amnesty.org/2013/04/15/how-to-turn-a-mobile-phone-into-an-alert-system-for-activists/.
As a student activist speaking out against the government, Hassan is at constant threat of being arrested. The Sudanese government tracks and harasses members of the student movement he belongs to. Reports of his friends and contacts being detained, tortured and even killed by the authorities are frighteningly regular. But Hassan’s network is also well organized. His phone is always on him and he uses it to help organize demonstrations, to record and disseminate video of violent crackdowns against the students and to keep his network updated every minute – a network that stretches from Khartoum to the rest of the globe in the time it takes to send a tweet. If he is able to get word out that he’s been arrested, Hassan knows that his network’s response will be swift and structured. The problem is that he knows the first thing the authorities will seize is his mobile phone. And here’s the double danger of not getting word out: the authorities will use the phone book, call log, messages and any open apps – such as G-Mail or Facebook – to identify and track others. Without knowledge of the arrest, the whole network will be easily compromised. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in AI, Amnesty international, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: activists, AI, Amnesty International, Human right, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, information technology, Livewire, mobile phones, Natalia project, Panic Button, protection, Security-in-a-box, technology, ThoughtWorks, tool
April 17, 2013
According to the ‘24.kg news agency‘ [only] 394 brides have been kidnapped in Kyrgyzstan in 2012. Ombudsman Tursunbek Akun said this at a meeting of the parliament Committee for Human Rights. He said that the number used to be much larger: “But the Ombudsman’s Institute, human rights defenders, journalists, and us – we all are working on it. We can see positive changes. Rate of brides kidnapping for forced marriage has decreased. A man who kidnapped a bride has been sentenced to 6 years with our assistance”.
However in the related article mentioned below from June 2012 number estimates are much higher: ” Since it often goes unreported, the actual number of bride kidnappings is unknown although Kyrgyzstan Ombudsman Tursunbek Akun estimates that more than 8,000 young women are kidnapped each year.”
http://eng.24.kg/community/2013/04/16/26656.html
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Tags: Bishkek, bride kidnappings, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, human rights of women, kidnapping, Kyrgyzstan, Ombudsman, Ombudsman Tursunbek Akun, research, traditional practices, wedding
April 16, 2013
On 14 April 2013, two prominent human rights lawyers, Mohamed Mahmoud Afrah and Abdikarin Hussein Gorod, were killed when they were in the wrong place at the wrong time: Al-Shabaab adherents in army uniform stormed Somalia’s main court complex in Mogadishu. They were among the approximately thirty people killed in the suicide attack.
Both Mohamed Mahmoud Afrah and Abdikarin Hussein Gorod have worked for a Legal Aid programme funded by the UN Development Programme in Mogadishu and had previously assisted internally displaced persons and other vulnerable individuals. They had recently defended Abdiasis Abdinur Ibrahim, also known as Koronto, a journalist who was jailed for interviewing an internally displaced woman who said she had been raped by state security forces in Mogadishu. A case referred to in this blog and by Front Line Defenders http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/21570
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Tags: Abdikarin Hussein Gorod, Al-Shabaab, Front Line Defenders, Human Rights Defenders, human rights lawyers, killings, Koronto, legal aid, Mogadishu, Mohamed Mahmoud Afrah, Somalia, suicide bombers, terrorism, UNDP
April 16, 2013
UNHCR’s Refworld 2013 goes live this week at http://www.refworld.org. The website has undergone significant changes based on a feedback received from internal and external users over the years.
Refworld started almost 20 years ago as an ever-expanding series of DVD’s containing the different databases of documentation centre of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. With the wider availability of broadband it switched in 2007 to internet only. It was already then considered an advanced protection information resource which aims to facilitate evidence-based and effective decision-making in refugee status determination procedures. Now it functions more broadly as a key tool for evidence-based advocacy relating to resettlement, statelessness, internal displacement, as well as specific protection concerns. The database, updated on a daily basis, now contains more than 167,000 documents relating to countries of origin or asylum, case law, legislation and policy. Especially the ‘country of origin’ information is relevant to human rights defenders as it is in fact a selection of human rights violations documentation. Also the legal information section is a unique collection of worldwide documentation concerning refugee law and statelessness.
Refworld 2013 features a number of improvements, such as: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in books, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | 2 Comments »
Tags: databases, documentation, DVDs, Human Rights and Liberties, human rights violations, information, internal displacement, refugee law, refugee status determination, refugees, Refworld, refworld 2013, search tool, statelessness, technology, text search engine, UNHCR, united nations high commissioner, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, User experience
April 16, 2013
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about charges brought against a community educator in Burma for teaching political science. Min Min, a human rights defender based in the country’s lowland, is being prosecuted because he refused to heed warnings that he not teaches a course on political science at his community-based education centre. He is currently on bail with the trial underway. The details of the story are below: Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: AHRC, Asian Human Rights Commission, Burma, Education, freedom of information, human rights, Human rights defender, Min, Min Min, Myanmar, Ne Win, Political science, political science course, Pyay, Pyi, right to education
April 15, 2013
Interfax-Ukraine on 15 April reports that Ukrainian human rights activists have called for a quick adoption of a law regulating the freedom of demonstration after the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in the case of Verentsov versus Ukraine. The Executive Director of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union (UHHRU) Arkadiy Buschenko said at a press conference today that human rights defenders had earlier called for the settlement of the legislation on freedom of peaceful assembly and now that the ECHRs judgment recommends that Ukraine liberalize the law in this area, the adoption of such a law becomes even more relevant. In the case of “Verentsov versus Ukraine” the court recognized the violation of Verentsov’s rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and obliged Ukraine to pay EUR 6,000 in compensation to Ukraine. The ECHR also proposed that Ukraine urgently reform the laws and administrative practices in order to determine the requirements for the organization and holding of peaceful assemblies, in particular, in the context of determining the grounds for restricting rallies. Human rights defenders have already prepared a draft law and submitted it for consideration by a number of MPs.
via Human rights activists call for speedy adoption of liberal law on freedom of assembly.
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Tags: Arkadiy Buschenko, European Court of Human Rights, freedom of assembly, freedom of demonstration, Human right, human rights, Human rights defender, Interfax-Ukraine, Law, Ukraine, Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union
April 15, 2013
Having just reported on his trial, it is fair to add that today we were informed by
that human rights defender Abdullah Fairouz was released on bail on 15 April 2013 upon payment of 200 Kuwait Dinars (approximately €536). A court date has yet to be set. During his detention period, Abdullah Fairouz was not permitted access to his lawyer including during interrogation. The human rights defender reported that police officers insulted him whilst in detention.
For more information on this case see the urgent appeal <http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/22298> concerning his arrest on 11 April 2013.
Posted in human rights | 1 Comment »
Tags: Abdullah Fairouz, detention, Front Line, Frontline Defenders, Human right, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights defender, illegal detention, Kuwait, Middle East, release on bail
April 15, 2013
Front Line Defenders hosted human rights defender Galym Ageleuov from Kazakhstan on its Fellowship Programme in Dublin between January and March 2013. Galym is the founder and head of human rights NGO Liberty – based in Almaty and established in 2011 to monitor and document human rights abuses and promote freedom of the internet in Kazakhstan, including through the You Tube project “Open Your Eyes” which broadcasts videos highlighting socio-political life in the country.
Liberty was one of the few organisations that succeeded in reporting from Zhanaozen and disseminating video footage following the massacre in 2011 when a demonstration by striking oil workers was violently suppressed by police, resulting in at least 14 deaths. Efforts to spread the awful truth of what happened there led to a serious defamation campaign against the organisation which included accusations of inciting violence and attempting to overthrow the government.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Almaty, Dublin, fellowship, Frontline Defenders, Galym Ageleuov, Human right, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights defender, internet, Kazakhstan, Non-governmental organization, You Tube, Zhanaozen
April 15, 2013
The Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders in Africa has announced with satisfaction the release of Mr Ibrahim Abdias Abdinur, a journalist and human rights defender in Somalia who was arrested and detained by the Somali police on 10 January 2013.
via Communique on the release of Mr Ibrahim Abdias Abdinur, journalist and human rights defender in Somalia / Press Releases / ACHPR.
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Tags: Africa, African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, Human right, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, Ibrahim Abdias Abdinur, Journalist, Somalia, Special Rapporteur
April 15, 2013
The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR) condemns the serious violations that occurred during the demonstrations on the evening of Friday, 29 March 2013. These Friday demonstrations were dubbed “Nobody Threaten Us” by the protesters. Officials cracked down on these protests and both male and female lawyers were assaulted inside the detention rooms, where thirteen lawyers and activists were detained in the El-Raml police station in Alexandria. Some of the female lawyers were sexually abused. It is worth mentioning that – according to statements by the detainees lawyers – the security forces and some Muslim Brotherhood personnel attacked them and beat them severely. They were tortured and dragged to the detention rooms. Two of the female lawyers were sexually abused
[As the 2010 Egyptian Legal practitioners’ law states as follows: Article 51: You cannot interrogate a lawyer or search his office without a permit from the public prosecutor. The public prosecutor should inform the lawyers syndicate and should give them enough notice before starting the interrogation. If a lawyer is accused of something related to his work, the head of the syndicate should attend the interrogation himself, or send a lawyer. The syndicate has the right to request a copy of the interrogation without paying any fees. Article 54: Anyone who has assaulted a lawyer verbally or non-verbally, or threatens him during his work, will receive the same punishment given to anyone who commits the same offense against a judge. ]
ECWR condemns these unprecedented violations, which it considers a continuation of the systematic crimes supported or tolerated by the current regime. Therefore, ECWR demands an immediate investigation and calls for accountability from the officials responsible
via ECWR Condemns the attack on Lawyers, Human Rights’ Defenders and Activists and Demands Accountability / Library / Home – AWID.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Alexandria, ECWR, Egypt, female lawyers, freedom to demonstrate, Friday, human rights, Independence of Lawyers, lawyer, Middle East, Muslim Brotherhood, sexual abuse, Violence against women, Women's rights
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 