On Jan 30, 2013 Amnesty International posted the following video in which AI researcher Diana Eltahawy describes the situation in Egypt after talking with those effected by the violence.
Archive for the 'human rights' Category
Amnesty Video on unrest in Egypt, 30 January
January 31, 2013A Canadian Human Rights Defender teaching in the USA put in the limelight
January 31, 2013When writing about individual Human Rights Defenders the tendency is to give attention to those in the front line who are in immediate trouble. This time I want to refer to a HRD teaching at the University of Connecticut based on a blog post by Kenneth Best of 30 January 2013. It concerns Luis van Isschot, an assistant professor of history, who specializes in the study of human rights in Latin America ( photo by Peter Morenus/UConn Photo).
Conversation around the dinner table in the van Isschot home in Montreal was a bit different than in most Canadian homes. Growing up with a Spanish, Peruvian, and Dutch family heritage, Luis van Isschot listened to discussions about Latin American history and politics led by his father, a physician who treated families in a clinic based in Montreal’s Latino community…….
…His path to a doctoral degree developed from his volunteer work in Guatemala and later in Colombia, where he served as a human rights observer. It was during his time in Colombia that a friend who was a university professor and a historian told him that one of the most important books of Colombian history was written by a professor from his hometown of Montreal, Catherine Le Grand at McGill University, and that he should look her up. He did, and it led to his enrollment in the doctoral program. “She made it seem that you could be a wonderful teacher, a cutting-edge scholar, and have a balanced life of engagement in your community, and that the Ph.D. was a way of doing that,” van Isschot says. “The university is central to the community, not apart from it. That makes sense to me.”
He later became involved with MEA Laureate 2001 Peace Brigades International, a nonpartisan organization that sends international volunteers to areas of conflict to provide protective accompaniment to human rights defenders threatened by political violence in 11 nations, including in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. In addition to serving as a human rights observer in Colombia, he also traveled to the Great Lakes Region of Africa, doing research in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi.
“It was a really important experience for me to go somewhere where the language of human rights and social justice and the understanding of history really enriched my own understanding of what I was working on in Latin America,” he says. His experience in Colombia led him to focus his doctoral studies on human rights activities in that nation’s oil capital, Barrancabermeja, where he lived for a year. The city was the center of a major urban war between Colombian paramilitary groups and leftist guerillas. Between 1998 and 2002, in a city of 300,000 there were about 2,000 violent murders. “It was a devastating period. The relationships I made with Colombian human rights activists, teachers, and scholars convinced me that I needed to find some place to explore the issues,” he says.
His book, The Social Origins of Human Rights: Protesting Political Violence in Columbia’s Oil Capital, 1919-2010, is near completion, and scheduled to be published in early 2014. His new research project is titled “When the Courts Make History: the Impact of the Inter American Court of Human Rights in Latin America’s Conflict Zones,” and examines the historical changes set in motion by the pursuit of justice across borders.
http://today.uconn.edu/blog/2013/01/focusing-on-human-rights-with-a-latin-american-perspective/
Brazil: NGO community comes out to support HRD Alexandre Anderson de Souza
January 29, 2013On 28 January 2013, a number of Brazilian civil society organisations and social movements addressed an open letter to the Coordinator of the National Programme for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (NPPHRD) and the Presidency regarding the security situation for human rights defender Alexandre Anderson de Souza.
Alexandre Anderson de Souza is head of the Associação dos Homens do Mar – AHOMAR (Association of Seamen), an organisation set up to defend the rights of the fisherfolk working in Rio de Janeiro, and particularly those affected by the construction of a gas pipeline for Petrobras. AHOMAR argues that there are reports of environmental permit irregularities in the construction of the pipeline and it will have a negative impact on local flora and fauna as well as on the livelihood of those who fish in those waters in the Guanabara Bay.
Alexandre Anderson de Souza has suffered a number of threats to his life and has been under the NPPHRD since 2009, but the federal government has delegated the responsibility to authorities in the state of Rio de Janeiro, where he and his family live. However, the human rights defender and a number of Brazilian civil society organisations and social movements that support him, have been repeatedly expressing their discontent with the protection offered by the state programme and the conditions in which Alexandre Anderson de Souza, his wife Ms Daize Menezes and their children have been forced to live. As the situation has worsened the human rights defender and his family have had to relocate to different hotels in the city of Rio de Janeiro but the locations were highly insecure. The buildings did not have 24-hour reception personnel and the rooms they were accommodated in had no telephone. The protection programme has been unable to ensure Alexandre and his family’s return to their residence in Magé, and as a result the human rights defender remains unable to resume his work at AHOMAR. Four members of AHOMAR have been killed to date.
Another point of discontent with the state protection programme has been the unsatisfactory level of legal support provided to the human rights defender by the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Projeto Legal (Legal Project). Projeto Legal has signed an agreement with the government of the state of Rio de Janeiro, in the context of the state protection programme, to provide legal support and advice to the human rights defenders included in the programme. After repeated complaints about the NGO’s inaction in several instances, Alexandre Anderson de Souza received information from a reliable source that one of Projeto Legal’s main funders is Petrobras, the same oil company whose actions the human rights defender and his organisation AHOMAR have been trying to hold accountable for environmental damages. The information was confirmed on the websites of both Petrobras and the NGO, but neither they, nor the government of the state of Rio de Janeiro, have clarified the terms of the agreement, raising doubts over the impartiality of the organisation and a conflict of interests.
The open letter signed by several civil society organisation addressed the main concerns of Alexandre Anderson de Souza and other NGOs working with human rights defenders in the country. While welcoming the formal establishment of the state of Rio de Janeiro’s protection programme for human rights defenders through the Decree 44.038 signed on 18 January 2013, the letter asks for Alexandre and his wife Daize, as well as other human rights defenders who are currently under the protection of the state, to have their security ensured by the National Protection Programme until the state protection programme is fully operating and able to fully ensure the safety of human rights defenders in the territory of the state of Rio de Janeiro.
Front Line Defenders is gravely concerned following reports of the vulnerable security situation of human rights defender Alexandre Anderson de Souza and his family, and of other human rights defenders under the protection of the state of Rio de Janeiro. 
OMCT launches documentary “Amazon Indians on borrowed time”
January 28, 2013
ShabanoYanomami.jpg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This 30-minute film, directed by Daniel Schweizer, is part of OMCT’s sponsorship project “Defend the Defenders”. The film follows a mission of OMCT in Brazil, accompanied by the sponsor and actress Noémie Kocher, showcasting human rights defenders of indigenous peoples rights, Megaron and Davi Yanomami Kopenawa. The documentary – available through VIMEO – illustrates the challenges and threats facing the indigenous Yanomami and Kayapo and their defenders on the construction of Belo Monte hydroelectric dam and illegal mining in Amazonia. http://protectionline.org/2013/01/23/documentary-by-omct-amazon-indians-on-borrowed-time/
For more information on the Sponsorship project “Defend the Defenders”, visit OMCT website:bit.ly/u8puEj
Related articles
- Portrait of Stanislav Dmitrievsky prominent Russian human rights defender (thoolen.wordpress.com)
Azerbaijan: Arrest as reprisal for speaking out before the Council of Europe ?
January 26, 2013The Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF) was informed today by its partners that prominent human rights defenders were arrested in Baku, Azerbaijan, in connection with a protest held on Saturday 26 January 2013:
Hundreds of people have demonstrated in Azerbaijan’s capital to express solidarity with recent protests in the central town of Ismayilli.More than 40 participants to the peaceful protests were detained, including prominent blogger Emin Milli, Rafto Prize winner 2009 Malahat Nasibova, human rights lawyer Intigam Alieyev, as well as investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova.The arrests happen to come two days after the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution on the human rights situation in Azerbaijan and called upon the authorities to stop attacks and harassment against human rights defenders. The Azerbaijani human rights defenders present in Strasbourg held a joint press conference in the Council of Europe buildings on Wednesday 23 January 2013.
“By arresting within a crowd of protesters also these prominent human rights defenders, Azerbaijan authorities show that they use detention as a tool to punish critical voices, few days after those critical voices expressed their opinions at the Council of Europe” says HRHF.
What’s in a name: journalist, blogger, activist and why not Human Rights Ambassador?
January 26, 2013
When I saw that William Gomes was named ‘human rights ambassador‘ back in April 2012 my curiosity was piqued and I wondered how on earth I had never heard of him or his appointment. Which country or international organization had bestowed upon him this official function and title and why? A bit of internet research revealed that it is the Oregon-based news agency Salem-News.com that had given him the grandiose title because “in this rapidly changing world, we believe this newly-created position and program, are large steps in raising our effectiveness as a news agency“.
At first I was a bit annoyed that the well-known title had been appropriated by a journalist but then reflected that we already have quite a few of ‘Goodwill’ Ambassadors and that Amnesty International has a ‘Ambassador of Conscience Award’, so that the charge of inflation hardly stands. Moreover, the definition coined in 1604 by Sir Henry Wotton that “an ambassador is an honest gentleman sent to lie abroad for the good of his country” does not guarantee better reporting.
What is interesting is that Salem-News.com describes itself “as a tireless band of writers, many of whom constantly explore the stinging issues surrounding human rights violations all over the world. We have long been a voice for the downtrodden, the people who fight for human independence, and resistance movements in the world that battle fascism and state terrorism” and stresses “that human rights reporting is our centerpiece; and in that respect our reporters are all incredible ambassadors for humanity“. William’s qualities and credentials as a “new kind of journalist” are provided in florid detail with his involvement in the Global Independent Media Center, the Italian Asia news agency, and the Asian Human Rights Commission,
Tim King, News Editor for Salem-News.com, states “We are very excited about the inclusion of this new role for William, he is already seeing progress from his letters to high level officials who are capable of resolving serious issues. There are people in really tough circumstances in need of intervention, this will be an increasingly powerful method in helping draw public attention to the ordeals they face” and he encourage all of us to send a congratulations letter to: williamgomes.org@gmail.com!
Related articles
- Human Rights Ambassador Asks Benin to Drop All Politically Motivated Charges Against Berthe Cakpossa (salem-news.com)
- Help Loosen the Rope Around Salem-News.com’s Neck (salem-news.com)
- Human Rights Ambassador William Gomes Calls for Justice in Syria (salem-news.com)
Ugandan Human Rights Defenders of TLC: from the frying pan into the fire
January 25, 2013In January 2013, detained human rights defenders and Twerwaneho Listeners Club (TLC) members Messrs Gerald Kankya, Simon Amanyire and Gilbert Kayondo were released on bail following a decision by the Public Prosecutor that no evidence existed of defamatory statements made by the individuals against Uganda’s First Family. However, the human rights defenders immediately faced new charges and are scheduled to report to the Fort Portal Police Station on 30 January 2013 for interrogation. The charges include inciting violence, disseminating harmful propaganda, while other charges relate to funding and the operation of programmes of the organisation. TLC is a non-governmental organisation based in Fort Portal that carries out human rights advocacy and monitoring work, including through radio programmes, with a view to holding public leaders more accountable.
On the afternoon of 22 January 2013, police conducted searches of the offices of TLC and of the residences of Gerald Kankya and Simon Amanyire. Two computers were confiscated from the TLC offices, while during the search of Gerald Kankya’s residence, police barricaded the gate of the residence with their vehicle, blocking Gerald Kankya’s wife from gaining access to her home. While searching Simon Amanyire’s residence, police confiscated a number of documents.
For more information on this case, see Front Line Defenders’ appeal http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/21363 issued on 23 January 2013, as well as previous urgent appeals and updates documenting instances of harassment of TLC members.
Call for Nominations for the Robert Kennedy Human Rights Award
January 25, 2013
1968 Robert Kennedy (credit: Wikipedia)
After the call for nominations for the Nansen Award and Lawyers for Lawyers Award this week, here comes the one for the US-based Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award. Founded in 1968, the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights (RFK Center) has honored 44 human rights defenders working in 26 countries since 1984. The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award Laureates are individuals who stand up to oppression at grave personal risk in the non-violent pursuit of human rights. The Award recognizes the work of outstanding individuals and provides support for the work of the Laureate through litigation; public awareness campaigns; advocacy to governments, the United Nations, regional bodies, other international entities and non-governmental organizations; and by generating domestic and international support for their cause.
The public is allowed to nominate outstanding human rights defenders. The deadline is March 1, 2013. Only nominations in English are accepted. Click here for the nominations form:
Nominations for the Lawyers for Lawyers (L4L) Award as from today
January 25, 2013As of today one can also nominate for the Lawyers for Lawyers Award a lawyer, or a group of lawyers, who work to promote the rule of law and human rights in an exceptional way and who have been threatened, obstructed or in any other way hindered because of their work as a lawyer. An additional criterion is that this lawyer, or group of lawyers, may benefit from the publicity and recognition of the Lawyers for Lawyers Award.
The Lawyers for Lawyers Award, organised by the Netherlands-based NGO with the same name, will be presented for the second time in Amsterdam on 23 May 2013. An independent jury, consisting of Heikelien Verrijn Stuart, Theo van Boven, Egbert M
yjer and Els Swaab, will decide which lawyer will receive the award. The prize consists of a donation of €10.000. Anyone can submit a nomination, but a lawyer or group of lawyers cannot nominate themselves. The closing date for submission of nominations is 15 February 2013.
Only nominations done on the website will be taken into consideration. The nomination form is available here and other information is available here.
Philomène Muamba in CONGO (DRC) threatened
January 24, 2013The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the FIDH and OMCT, received information from the local group “Voix des sans-voix pour les droits de l’Homme ” about serious threats against the HRD Philomène Muamba, President of ADDEF ( l’Association pour la défense des droits des enfants et femmes opprimés), based in Kasaï-Occidental. It seems that on 17 January at 03h00 in the morning 3 policemen and 2 military came to the house of Ms Philomène Muamba, in Tshikapa, without any written order. As she was not home, they expressed threats against her little sister. Philomène Muamba then lodged a complaint against X with both the military and civilian prosecutors in Tshikapa.
Since 2011 Philomène Muamba has received several death threats on the telephone along the lines that “you had us arrested and thought we were going to die in jail but …we will bury you”. In 2011 et 2012, she was indeed at the basis of a trial that had led to the conviction of persons who had been accused of several cases of rape. And one should note that on 17 January 2013 around 20h00 several detainees – including men mentioned above – had escaped from the central prison in Tshikapa.
The original report is only in French: http://www.omct.org/fr/human-rights-defenders/urgent-interventions/congo-dem-republic/2013/01/d22133/
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 