Archive for the 'human rights' Category

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Visual Journalism for Human Rights: the Tim Hetherington award

December 12, 2012
English: Human Rights Watch logo Русский: Лого...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The photojournalist Fernando Moreles has been awarded the second Tim Hetherington Grant, an annual visual journalism award focusing on human rights, Human Rights Watch and World Press Photo announced 0n 11 December 2012. Human Rights Watch and World Press Photo established the grant to honor the legacy of Hetherington, a photojournalist and filmmaker who was killed during fighting in Libya in April 2011. The €20,000 grant was given to Moleres for his project “Waiting for an Opportunity,” in which he is documenting the harsh realities of juvenile justice in Sierra Leone.  For more than two decades Moleres, who was born and lives in Spain, has been committed to documenting the plight of the most vulnerable populations and covering issues relating to children and labor, juvenile justice, and refugees. “Fernando Moleres’ moral and emotional commitment to his photographic subjects is clear,” said Carroll Bogert, deputy executive director at Human Rights Watch. “Tim Hetherington would have loved this work and Human Rights Watch is thrilled to support it.”

Related articles:

Fernando Moleres Wins Tim Hetherington Grant (hrw.org)
Tim Hetherington, 1970-2011 (edendale.typepad.com)

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Anne Klein Award 2013 goes to Lepa Mlađenović, Serbian Women’s and Human Rights Activist

December 11, 2012

Lepa Mlađenović – Serbian activist, feminist, counselor – is the winner of the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s Anne Klein Women’s Award. The award ceremony will take place in Berlin on 1 March 2013. The prize money is 10.000 €.

Lepa Mlađenović, the second winner of the Anne Klein Women’s Award, is a courageous woman who has continuously fought against violence and militarism and for freedom, human rights, and sexual self-determination. The statement of the jury as well as a short biography and a profile of Lepa Mlađenović and a downloadable photo of the awardee are available at www.boell.de/annekleinwomensaward

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Third and final clip in animated series on human rights system

December 11, 2012

This is third and last chapter in the series of animated videos to which I referred earlier. This is the chapter dealing with collective rights and the issue of enforcement. Unfortunately I see a major error with regard to the latter as the clip does not make clear that the Treaty Bodies complaint procedures are only open to those who reside in countries that have (1) ratified the treaty in question (b) recognised the right of individual complaint. For everybody there are the co-called ‘charter-based’ procedures (mechanisms) which are even less legally binding. These together constitute the global level of complaint procedures, against which one can then place the regional systems.

For the rest a solid and neutral explanation of the history and cohesion of the international system.

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Banning of human rights march in Republika Srpska on 10 December

December 11, 2012

Human Rights Day 2012 was celebrated in may ways in many countries, but one of the more innovative ways was the banning of a human rights march in Republika Srpska (one of the two entities that make up Bosnia and Herzegovina).

According to Amnesty International the event in the city of Prijedor was forbidden without any legal reason being given. The march was supposed to bring attention to discrimination and numerous violations of human rights in Prijedor.It was organised by a local Commemoration Committee, which is calling on authorities to investigate abuses of power and human rights violations committed in the area of and around Prijedor. “Rather than trying to clamp down on activist groups in Prijedor, the authorities should be heeding their calls for justice,” said Lejla Hadzimesic of the AI Balkans team. Only last month, the UN Human Rights Committee criticized restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly in Prijedor.

via Banning of human rights march in Republika Srpska unacceptable | Amnesty International USA.

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Major ACHR report on Pakistan: Failure of institutions

December 11, 2012

The Asian Human Rights Commission – in spite of its name a NGO – published an elaborate and detailed report on human rights developments in Pakistan this year. The part on HRDs reads as follows:

Human Rights Defenders: Human rights defenders HRDs remain subject to: threats and reprisals against them and their families; harassment; legal and physical attacks; arbitrary arrests and detention; forced disappearance; and torture and extra-judicial killing by state and non-state actors. The government has failed to establish an effective national policy of protection for HRDs or to combat impunity by effectively investigating and prosecuting those responsible for such attacks. The lack of effort to combat impunity mirrors the lack of effort to address the whole range of human rights violations witnessed in Pakistan. And, this, in turn, stems from institutional failings within the police and justice delivery mechanisms, and lack of political will on the part of the government to institute effective institutional reforms. The fact that HRDs expose these failings, places them at particular risk.Persons who work in favour of human rights, but contrary to the interests of radical Islamist groups, face considerable threat, as may be noted in the killings in 2011 of the Governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, and the Federal Minister of Minority Affairs, Shabaz Bhatti, who were targeted for their efforts to protect minorities, and their opposition to Pakistan’s draconian blasphemy laws.Another accepted recommendation calls for the government to address the repressive effect of civil society monitoring procedures and anti-terrorism legislation on the operation of human rights defenders. The sentencing of six leaders of a power-loom workers union to a total of 490 years in jail, based on fabricated charges under anti-terrorism legislation in November 2011, illustrates the government’s failure in this regard.The killings of HRD’s in Balochistan, while they were documenting cases of forced disappearances as part of the Supreme Court’s efforts to compile a list of cases, illustrates the  risks to defenders who work on the gravest rights abuses.   

The Government of Pakistan has failed to invite the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders to visit the country despite accepting a recommendation to do so.

via PAKISTAN: Failure of the institutions related to the rule of law provides impunity to the perpetrators of violations human rights — Asian Human Rights Commission.

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Every Turk is born with rights, including the right to freedom of expression

December 10, 2012

A Turkish court has acquitted four men on trial for their participation in a protest in support of a conscientious objector.

On Thursday 7 December 2012 the court in the north-western city of Eskişehir cleared human rights defender Halil Savda and three others of the charge of “alienating the public from military service”, a criminal offence under Turkey’s Penal Code. The case against them began in 2011 after they protested outside the hearing of fellow conscientious objector Enver Aydemir a year earlier in what became known as the “everyone is born a baby” case – a twist on the Turkish military slogan “every Turk is born a soldier”.  In response John Dalhuisen, Director of Amnesty International’s Europe and Central Asia Programme said:  “This acquittal should prove that every Turk is born with rights, including the right to freedom of expression”.

In acquitting the defendants, the court ruled that their protest and slogans were protected under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights and the Turkish Constitution, because they did not contain or incite violence, and that a democratic society must allow freedom of expression even if it shocks and disturbs. However, Savda has another similar conviction that is currently pending at the Supreme Court of Appeals.

Over the last few years, Amnesty International has been campaigning for the Turkish authorities to end their prosecution of Savda and others facing convictions under Article 318 of the Penal Code – which criminalizes “alienating the public from military service”.

 

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15 December deadline for HRD fellowship related to humanitarian law

December 10, 2012

The Oak Institute for the Study of International Human Rights draws again attention to its call for nominations for the 2013 Oak Human Rights Fellowship, sponsored by the Oak Institute for the Study of International Human Rights at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. The fellowship is a one-semester appointment as a scholar-in-residence. It is designed to provide human rights practitioners doing “on-the-ground” work at some level of personal risk a respite from front-line duties to enable them to reflect, write, and communicate their work to our campus community. The focus of this year’s search is on the protection of the human rights of interned or displaced persons. We are particularly looking for those human rights practitioners involved in international legal rights and basic needs of prisoners of war, civilians detained during occupation or as the result of political violence or states of emergency, and refugees and internally displaced persons fleeing from civil violence, political repression or economic dislocation.   The appointment is for mid-August through mid- December 2013. The College provides a stipend of $32,500, plus transportation, housing, health care coverage, and other fringe benefits. We encourage the fellow to bring family with limited financial support for their travel as well.  The deadline for completed applications is December 15, 2012 (but first contact the OAK institute with a very good candidate as the first deadline has passed already and forms have to be filled out). Leah Breen Student Assistant, Oak Institute for the Study of International Human Rights oakhr@colby.edu

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Ugandan LGBT activist becomes Human Rights Defender of the Month

December 7, 2012

While the debate is again raging in the Ugandan parliament and internationally on adopting an anti-homosexuality bill with extremely severe punishments, Stockholm-based Civil Rights Defenders as adopted as its HRD of the Month: Brian Nkoyooyo.

‘Fit in’, instead of standing out, is a general security advice for lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) people in Uganda. “It is a matter of survival”, says Brian Nkoyooyo, Director of the grass root organisation Icebreakers that works with LGBT youth. Since he is a well-known gay activist in a country that is considered to be one of the worst countries for LGBT people, he is always on guard: “I live every day as it was my last”.

Icebreakers Uganda is a grass root organisation founded in 2004 that functions as a node for small networks, in both rural and urban Uganda. The discretely hidden office in Kampala is open throughout the week and plays an important part as a gathering point where people can meet and share experiences, use the library and get Internet access.

The interview gives considerable detail on the question and modalities of “coming out” linked to Brian’s own life experience.

The organisation strives to help people accept and be comfortable with their sexual orientation and gender identity, but calls for caution when coming out:

Interesting is that Brian states “Ironically, in 2009 the Anti Gay Bill actually led to a positive development for the LGBT movement in Uganda. Previously, only a few civil society organisations had included LGBT people’s rights in their work for human rights. With the tabling of the bill, a coalition of several civil society actors was formed to fight the Bill.” Kasha becoming the MEA Laureate in 2011 was another rallying point.

Brian Nkoyooyo

Foto: Ninke Liebert Photography

“As an activist, I can stand up and speak out. People may choose to listen and other may not. I can easily be made to shut up. But with art, it lasts for centuries and it reaches a wider audience. I prefer use of art and music because I know the biggest number of the community appreciates it compared to long boring speeches”.

Despite being constantly afraid, for his family’s sake, his gay and straight friends and himself, Brian continues to work because he has a vision for the LGBT community and Uganda at large. “A dream where people live harmoniously regardless of their differences: sexual orientation, race, gender and more. A society full of love”.

for full story go to : https://www.civilrightsdefenders.org/featured/human-rights-defender-of-the-month-brian-nkoyooyo/

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China and its amazing sensitivity on Human Rights Defenders

December 6, 2012

Most of you are aware that a group of 134 Nobel laureates wrote to Chinese Communist Party chief and future president, Xi Jinping, urging him to release Liu, who won the peace prize two years ago (and to release his wife). China of course maintains that Liu is a criminal and decries such criticism as unwarranted interference in its internal affairs. Remarkable is that Mo, the first Chinese national to win the $1.2 million literature prize – in Stockholm to receive the award – refused to express support for Liu, and defended censorship as sometimes necessary, comparing it to security checks at airports. “I have said this prize is about literature. Not for politics,” said the 57-year-old whose adopted pen name Mo Yan means “don’t speak”[!!].

Now the latest twist according to the Financial Times of 6 December 2012 is that China has excluded Norway – as the only European country – from its visa-free regime for visitors.  When asked why Norway was left off the list, Wang Qin, a senior official at the Beijing government travel administration, did not respond directly but said that some countries were not eligible because their citizens or government were “of low-quality” and “badly behaved”.

Chinese-Norwegian ties have been in diplomatic deep freeze ever since imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Immediately afterwards, Beijing suspended negotiations with Oslo over a bilateral free trade agreement and those talks have not yet resumed in spite of the fact that the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded by a committee of five individuals appointed by the Norwegian parliament and that Government has no say in the selection (although it is true that committee members always are Norwegian nationals). China has refused visas to many Norwegian journalists, scientists and businesspeople and cancelled numerous political and diplomatic meetings. According to the same FT article earlier this year senior Chinese diplomats insisted Norway must “recognise its mistakes and take steps to correct them” and Norwegian exports have been affected.

The continued harsh treatment of Norway is a signal that when it comes to human rights China remains extra-ordinarily sensitive. One can only hope that the other (European) will show that they will be not intimidated and show solidarity with Norway e.g. by refusing the visa free offer unless Norway is included.

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Liberia: First Annual National Human Rights Book Fair

December 4, 2012

An interesting local idea: the Liberian Coalition of Human Rights Defenders (LICHRD), in collaboration with the Independent National Commission on Human Rights, will from Tuesday through Wednesday December 4-5 hold the first annual National Human Rights Book Fair in Monrovia. The event is a prelude to the celebration of the International Human Rights Day .

via allAfrica.com: Liberia: First Annual National Human Rights Book Fair Insight.

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