share information on human rights defenders, with special focus on human rights awards and laureates
Front Line reports succinctly on a case in the Russian Federation, where human rights defender Ms Sophia Kropotkina is being harassed in and outside hospital:
via Russian Federation: Harassment of human rights defender Ms Sophia Kropotkina | Front Line.
“Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections” campaign coordinator Valiantsin Stefanovich reports that two more Swedish journalists, one of which is Erik Gonplatten, were denied access.
Dutch MEP for D66, Marietje Schaake wrote a short but good piece in New Europe about the need for a overall EU strategy with regard to ‘digital freedom’. Concerning HRDs she has the following to say: “Generally speaking, the fight for control and power by authoritarian regimes involves a growing ICT component. While training human rights defenders, journalists and dissidents should improve their safety online it also creates a new set of sensitivities and a potentially dangerous dependency on the accuracy and quality of the guidance. Human rights defenders deserve EU support and in any case should not be targeted with tools and technologies developed and exported from within the EU.”
via The need for an EU Digital Freedom Strategy | New Europe.
courtesy Nat Daudrich
Thanks to the partnership with the City of Geneva hundreds of posters are lining the streets of Geneva in anticipation of the ceremony of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (MEA) on 2 October in the splendid Victoria Hall. The laureate will be announced that evening but all three nominees will be honored and films on their work shown. The nominees are: Luon Sovath (Cambodia), Nasrin Sotoudeh (Iran) and the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights.
As reported earlier in this blog, in relation to the arrest and release of MEA 2012 Nominee the Venerable Luon Sovath, there was an excellent video produced: “Flowers of Freedom: the Campaign to Free the 15.”
Now – on 29 August 2012 – there was a follow up conversation between:
– Ee Sarom at Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT), a housing rights NGO, who was one of several civil society leaders supporting the community’s mobilisation for the release of the activists, and
– Brittis Edman, who is Programme Director for Southeast Asia at Civil Rights Defenders. The event took place on 29 August 2012.
Civil Rights Defenders – Video: Persecution of Cambodian human rights defenders.
Over recent years flyers containing death threats have been repeatedly left at the office of SINTRAELECOL, most recently in mid-July when the death threat contained a picture of bullet cartridges. According to the CUT, 12 trade unionists have been killed in Colombia in this year alone. This attack comes at a time when there had been an order to remove the protection Oscar Arturo Orozco was receiving and when parts of the budget of the Ministry of Interior Protection Programme have been reduced.
Amnesty International, Protection International and other NGOs call for expressions of support: Go to original article
I have just learned from Front Line that the Bahraini human rights activist, Said Yousif, was released soon after his arrest. This is good news of course but does not change the fact that so many others linger in jail. A good and detailed piece can be found at:
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/08/15/256341/locking-up-usual-suspects-in-bahrain/
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Two courageous and tireless advocates for human rights have been selected as recipients of the prestigious Alison Des Forges Award for Extraordinary Activism. Abbé Benoît Kinalegu from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Salah Marghani from Libya are leading voices for justice in their countries, working relentlessly to protect the rights and dignity of others. They will join four other international recipients of the award as they are honored at the Human Rights Watch Voices for Justice Annual Dinners in 15 cities worldwide in November 2012.
The award is named for Dr. Alison Des Forges, senior adviser to Human Rights Watch’s Africa division for almost two decades, who died in a plane crash in New York on February 12, 2009. Des Forges was the world’s leading expert on Rwanda, the 1994 genocide, and its aftermath. Human Rights Watch’s annual award honors her outstanding commitment to, and defense of, human rights. It celebrates the valor of people who put their lives on the line to create a world free from abuse, discrimination, and oppression.
“These human rights defenders have spoken out and helped people who needed protection in some of the most dangerous and difficult situations in the world,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “They show that courage and persistence can make a difference even during periods of conflict and violent transition.”
The recipients of Human Rights Watch’s 2012 Alison Des Forges Award for Extraordinary Activism are:
Recipients of the 2011 award, who will also be touring North America and Europe this year, are:
Human Rights Watch staff members work closely with the human rights defenders as part of the organization’s research into some 90 countries around the world. The defenders will be honored at the 2012 Voices for Justice Human Rights Watch Annual Dinners in Amsterdam, Beirut, Chicago, Geneva, London, Los Angeles, Munich, New York, Oslo, Paris, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Silicon Valley, Toronto, and Zurich.
Awards for Rights Activists from Congo, Libya | Human Rights Watch.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 