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Iran: One year after uprising in Iran the international community must combat impunity says Amnesty

September 15, 2023

The international community must pursue pathways for justice at the international level to address systemic impunity for Iranian officials responsible for hundreds of unlawful killings of protesters and widespread torture, Amnesty International said on 13 September 2023, as Iran marks the one-year anniversary of the “Woman Life Freedom” uprising.

Over the past year, Iranian authorities have committed a litany of crimes under international law to eradicate any challenge to their iron grip on power. These include hundreds of unlawful killings; the arbitrary execution of seven protesters; tens of thousands of arbitrary arrests; widespread torture, including rape of detainees; widespread harassment of victims’ families who call for truth and justice; and reprisals against women and girls who defy discriminatory compulsory veiling laws.

“The anniversary of the ‘Woman Life Freedom’ protests offers a stark reminder for countries around the world of the need to initiate criminal investigations into the heinous crimes committed by the Iranian authorities under universal jurisdiction. Government statements calling on the Iranian authorities to halt the unlawful use of firearms against protesters, stop torturing detainees, and release all individuals detained for peacefully exercising their human rights remain as crucial as ever. These actions show victims they are not alone in their darkest hour.”

The anniversary of the ‘Woman Life Freedom’ protests offers a stark reminder for countries around the world of the need to initiate criminal investigations into the heinous crimes committed by the Iranian authorities under universal jurisdiction. Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa

The Iranian authorities have waged an all-out assault on the human rights of women and girls over the past year. Despite months of protests against Iran’s compulsory veiling laws, triggered by the arbitrary arrest and death in custody of Mahsa/Zhina Amini, the authorities have reinstated “morality” policing and introduced a raft of other measures that deprive women and girls who defy compulsory veiling of their rights.

These include the confiscation of cars and denial of access to employment, education, healthcare, banking services and public transport. Simultaneously, they have prosecuted and sentenced women to imprisonment, fines and degrading punishments, such as washing corpses.

This assault on women’s rights is taking place amid a spate of hateful official statements referring to unveiling as a “virus”, “social illness” or “disorder” as well as equating the choice to appear without a headscarf to “sexual depravity.”

The authorities are also working on new legislation that will introduce even more severe penalties for defying compulsory veiling.

Mass arbitrary detentions and summons

During the uprising and in the months that followed, the authorities arbitrarily arrested tens of thousands of men, women and children, including protesters, human rights defenders and minority rights activists.  Those arrested include at least 90 journalists and other media workers and 60 lawyers, including those representing families of individuals unlawfully killed. Scores of other lawyers were summoned for interrogations. [see e.g. https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/05/11/now-it-is-the-turn-of-the-iranian-journalists-who-reported-on-mahsa-amini/]

Ahead of the anniversary, the authorities have intensified their campaign of arbitrary arrests targeting, among others, family members of those unlawfully killed, and forcing thousands of university students to sign undertakings not to participate in anniversary protests.

Execution of protesters

Over the past year, the authorities have increasingly used the death penalty as a tool of political repression to instil fear among the public, arbitrarily executing seven men in relation to the uprising following grossly unfair sham trials. Some were executed for alleged crimes such as damage to public property and others in relation to the deaths of security forces during the protests. All were executed after Iran’s Supreme Court rubber stamped their unjust convictions and sentences despite a lack of evidence and without carrying out investigations into their allegations of torture. Dozens remain at risk of execution or being sentenced to death in connection with the protests.

A crisis of impunity

The authorities have refused to conduct any thorough, independent and impartial investigations into the human rights violations committed during and in the aftermath of the “Woman Life Freedom” uprising and have failed to take any steps to hold those suspected of criminal responsibility to account.

Instead, authorities have applauded the security forces for suppressing the unrest and shielded officials from accountability, including two officials who admitted raping women protesters in Tehran. They have also dismissed complaints from victims and/or their families, threatening them with death or other harm if they pursued their complaints.

Amnesty International welcomed the establishment of a Fact-Finding Mission on Iran by the UN Human Rights Council in November 2022, yet much more is needed to combat the crisis of impunity for serious crimes in Iran – and to deter further cycles of bloodshed.

Amnesty International urges all states to consider exercising universal and other extraterritorial jurisdiction in relation to crimes under international law and other serious human rights violations committed by Iranian authorities, irrespective of the absence or presence of the accused in their territory. This includes initiating adequately resourced criminal investigations aimed at disclosing the truth about the crimes, identifying those suspected of responsibility, including commanders and other superiors and issuing, when there is sufficient admissible evidence, international arrest warrants. States should also contribute to achieving reparations for the victims.

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/09/15/iran-crackdown-dissent-ahead-protest-anniversary

see also:

https://www.fidh.org/en/region/asia/iran/iran-statement-on-the-un-fact-finding-mission-s-oral-upda

https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/09/1141017

Iran’s women, digital rights and human freedoms

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/09/iran-un-experts-denounce-crackdown-public-commemoration-jina-mahsa-aminis

Posted in AI, Amnesty international, HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | 1 Comment »
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UN Special Rapporteurs express serious concern about Kashmiri human rights defenders

September 5, 2023

The Pakistan Observer of August 11, 2023 carries the story which I wished Indian newspapers would also cover..:

The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and other UN experts have expressed their serious concern at the arrest, detention and accusations brought against Kashmiri human rights defenders Irfan Mehraj and Khurram Parvez, which they said are “designed to delegitimize their human rights work and obstruct monitoring of the human rights situation in” Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir

A joint communication released by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and other UN experts, and which is available at the website of the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders [https://srdefenders.org/india-arrest-detention-of-kashmiri-human-rights-defenders-irfan-mehraj-khurram-parvez-joint-communication/], said, “We underline the legitimacy of their work and of the activities of the JKCSS and express our fear that the arrest and detention of Mr. Mehraj, as well as the continued detention of Mr. Parvez since 2021 and his involvement in the second case at hand, are designed to delegitimize their human rights work and obstruct monitoring of the human rights situation in India-administered Jammu and Kashmir. [see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/81468931-79AA-24FF-58F7-10351638AFE3]

“As we have repeatedly stressed in the past, counter-terrorism legislation should never be used to sanction human rights defenders. We express our abhorrence at the continued instrumentalization of national-security measures and discourse to undermine, obstruct and persecute those peacefully promoting, defending and seeking the advancement of human rights in the country, as well as to frustrate accountability for human rights violations.”

Disagreeing with the definition of a terrorist by the Modi government, the joint communication said, “As we previously raised in OL IND 7/2020, we are deeply concerned about the definition of ‘terrorist act’ in the UAPA, which substantially departs from the model definition offered by the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism and provides broad powers to the executive, without oversight or control from the judiciary. We further remind your Excellency Government that the definition of terrorism and terrorism offences must be ‘genuinely’ terrorist in nature in accordance with the elements identified by the Security Council in its resolution 1566 (2004).”

The statement warned that “Conflation of human rights work with terrorism is inconsistent with the obligations of State affirmed by the Security Council that counter-terrorism activities by States should not conflict with other international law obligations, particularly human rights, and with the agreed consensus of Member States contained in the Global Counter-Terrorism strategy opposing the misuse of counter-terrorism measures against civil society (A/RES/60/288).”

“We also note our deep concerns about allegation of ‘terror funding’ and highlight that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has set forth international practices and guidelines aimed at preventing global money laundering and terrorist financing. The FATF recommendations, while non-binding, provide recognized international guidance for the countering of terrorism financing. Recommendation (1) states that ‘countries should apply a risk-based approach (RBA) to ensure that measures to prevent or mitigate money laundering and terrorist financing are commensurate with the risks identified’ Recommendation (8) provides guidance to States on the laws and regulations that should be adopted to oversee and protect NPOs that have been identified as being vulnerable to terrorist financing concerns.”

“Such measures must be ‘focused and proportionate’; ‘ ‘one size fits all’ approach to address all NPOs is not appropriate.’ FATF has reaffirmed that State compliance with Recommendation (8) and the other FATF Recommendations ‘should not contravene a country’s obligations under the Charter of the United Nations and international human rights law to promote universal respect for, and observance of, fundamental human rights and freedoms, such as freedom of expression, religion or belief and freedom of peaceful assembly and of association.”

Blaming India for targeting civil society, the joint statement said, “We are concerned that these arrests appear to contravene a “risk-based” approach to countering terrorism finance and appear to demonstrate a misuse of countering terrorism finance laws and practice to disproportionately target civil society.”

It is worth mentioning here that the “communication written by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and other UN experts to the Government of India on 5 June 2023. The communication remained confidential for 60 days before being made public, giving the Government time to reply. Regrettably, the Government did not reply within this time frame.”

The communication stated that “If a reply is received it will be posted on the UN Special Procedures communications database”.

“Since the communication was sent, the detention of Mr. Mehraj and Mr. Parvez has twice been extended following petitions by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), with the latest extension granted on 27 July 2023. Both human rights defenders remain detained in Rohini Prison in Delhi”.—KMS.

see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2020/02/09/forgotten-kashmir-something-has-to-be-done/

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/03/india-un-expert-demands-immediate-end-crackdown-kashmiri-human-rights

https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=28286

UN rights defenders, experts say India misusing laws to disproportionately target civil society in IIOJK

Posted in human rights, Human Rights Council, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
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Human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng and the practice of enforced disappearances: joint letter

September 5, 2023

We, the undersigned organizations, call on the Chinese authorities to immediately and unconditionally release prominent human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng ahead of the sixth anniversary of his disappearance on August 13. 

And as we near “The International Day of the Disappeared” on August 30, we also condemn the Chinese government’s use of enforced disappearances as a tactic to silence and control activists, religious practitioners, Uyghurs and Tibetans, and even high-profile celebrities, entrepreneurs, and government officials. [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2022/08/31/enforced-disappearances-in-china/]

Gao Zhisheng was one of the first human rights lawyers to emerge in the early 2000s and he became an important leader of China’s rights defense movement. He took on cases to help migrant workers and defend spiritual practitioners, including Falun Gong adherents and Christians. Gao wrote open letters to China’s top political leadership to call attention to the plight of Falun Gong practitioners and the abuse he had suffered while defending them. 

In 2006, Gao was sentenced to three years in prison on the charge of “inciting subversion of state power,” and after being released on parole, he was repeatedly disappeared for extended periods and tortured by police between 2007 and 2011. In December 2011, state media reported that Gao had been imprisoned in the Uyghur region to serve out his sentence after violating terms of his parole. He was then released in 2014 but remained under house arrest.

Gao’s relatives in China, as well as fellow rights lawyers and activists, who previously remained in contact with him, have not heard from him since August 13, 2017. Ever since then, Chinese authorities have, implausibly, claimed that Gao is not under any “criminal coercive measures.”   

Over the past six years, Gao has effectively remained in a state of enforced disappearance. 

Gao Zhisheng’s wife, Geng He, although living in the United States, has continued to advocate for him, pleading with the Chinese government to allow the world to “see him if he’s alive, or see his corpse if he’s dead”. Most recently, she has demanded that he be put on trial if he is guilty, and at the very least, that his lawyers should be allowed to meet with him and family members should have videoconferences. 

However, the Chinese government has not provided Geng He with even this minimum amount of information. 

On several occasions United Nations bodies and human rights experts have sought information about Gao Zhisheng’s status, but the Chinese government has refused to clarify his situation. Most recently, in 2020, the Chinese government responded to a letter from six UN Special Rapporteurs by claiming that, “In August 2014 Mr. Gao was released, having served his sentence. Since his release, the public security authorities have not taken any coercive measures against him.”

Gao Zhisheng’s case has been treated under the humanitarian mandate of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (case no. 10002630). The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention had also previously issued an opinion in 2010 stating that Gao’s detention was arbitrary under international law and calling for his immediate release, but Gao has remained under control of the authorities ever since.

Enforced disappearances of other human rights defenders

While Gao Zhisheng’s case is arguably the most famous and well-documented case of prolonged enforced disappearance in blatant violation of international law, there are several other noteworthy cases: 

Former human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng and his wife Xu Yan were detained in April 2023 as they were taking the subway to attend an event at the European Delegation in Beijing. They have been arrested and charged with “inciting subversion of state power,” but authorities have prevented lawyers from visiting them, and their 18-year-old son is under “house arrest.”  See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/tag/yu-wensheng/

Human rights activist Jia Pin has been missing since September 24, 2022. He was last known to have been traveling to Beihai City in Guangxi. His friends do not know where he is, although some speculate that he may have been taken away by Henan provincial police.

Protester Peng Lifa, was taken away by authorities on October 13, 2022 after engaging in a one-man protest on the Sitong Bridge in Haidian District in Beijing against China’s stringent COVID measures and against the rule of Xi Jinping. There have been no reports about where Peng Lifa is being held.

Jiangsu-based human rights defender Tao Hong has been a victim of enforced disappearance since September 9, 2022, after she signed a open petition showing concern for the death of Mao Lihui, a petitioner who police claimed died via self-immolation while detained in a hotel. Before being detained, Tao Hong told friends on WeChat that she “absolutely wouldn’t commit suicide” – as a pre-emptive warning not to believe authorities should she mysteriously turn up dead.

Journalist Yang Zewei, who goes by the pen name Qiao Xinxin, was presumably taken away in Laos on May 31 by what is believed to have been a joint Chinese and Laotian policing effort. Earlier in the year he had launched a campaign to urge for the dismantling of the Great Firewall, an action he labeled as the #BanGFW movement. Before being detained Yang had tweeted that authorities were harassing his relatives in his hometown, and he also declared that he would not commit suicide in detention. On August 8 it was confirmed that he had been returned to China and was being held at the Hengyang Detention Center in Hunan.

Falun Gong practitioners Chen Yang (陈阳) and Cao Zhimin from Hunan province have been held incommunicado since October 2020, after being detained when studying spiritual scriptures with fellow believers. Yang had previously been jailed for four years for his activism and Cao had been held with her five-year-old daughter at an extralegal detention facility in 2010. According to the couple’s daughter, now a teenager studying in the United States, relatives in China have been unable to meet with them since their detention and lawyers hired were stopped from representing the couple. They are believed to have been sentenced to prison in November 2022, but the length of sentence remains unknown, no formal notification was sent to the family, and no news is available on their condition in custody. 

Enforced disappearances of Uyghurs and Tibetans

The Chinese Communist Party, composed solely of Han Chinese officials at the highest levels of decision making, continues to use systemic enforced disappearances of non-Han groups to control, intimidate, and silence them. See: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/08/18/un-experts-demand-detailed-information-on-nine-tibetan-environment-defenders/

In the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), also known as the Uyghur region or East Turkistan by Uyghurs, there likely remain hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs who are subjected to arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance through the legal system. In 2022, the Xinjiang High People’s Procuratorate, stated that 540,826 people had been prosecuted in the region since 2017. In November 2022, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) urged China to “immediately release all individuals arbitrarily detained in the XUAR, and to provide relatives of those detained or disappeared with detailed information about their status and well-being.”

As the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has noted, there is almost no public data about the criminal justice system in the region since 2020 and the government has not made public criminal verdicts or provided relevant information to the OHCHR. Furthermore, as a UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) opinion noted in a 2022 decision finding that three Uyghurs – Qurban Mamut, Ekpar Asat and Gulshan Abbas – had been arbitrarily detained and were victims of enforced disappearance, no verdicts were ever made public and the Chinese government did not respond to the UN with any information regarding the proceedings, “it is unclear if they have indeed stood trial at all.”  In another case from 2022, the WGAD issued an opinion that found that Abdurashid Tohti, Tajigul Qadir, Ametjan Abdurashid and Mohamed Ali Abdurashid had been arbitrarily detained. The Chinese government refused to provide any information about the detention and or of any legal proceedings against them, and the WGAD was “disturbed at the total secrecy which appears to surround the fate and whereabouts” of the four people.

In Tibet, the Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, has been missing since May 17, 1995.  In 2022, UN human rights experts have raised their concerns regarding the arrest, detention and subsequent enforced disappearance of Tibetan writer Mr. Lobsang Lhundup (pen name of Dhi Lhaden), musician Mr. Lhundrup Drakpa, and teacher Ms. Rinchen Kyi, in connection with their cultural activities advocating for Tibetan language and culture. Dhi Lhaden and Rinchen Kyi were subsequently released.

On August 10, UN experts urged Chinese authorities to provide clarification on the situation regarding nine imprisoned Tibetan environmental human rights defenders, including information about why they were imprisoned, where they were detained, and their current health conditions. The nine defenders are Anya Sengdra, Dorjee Daktal, Kelsang Choklang, Dhongye, Rinchen Namdol, Tsultrim Gonpo, Jangchup Ngodup, Sogru Abhu and Namesy. 

Disappearances as a form of governance [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2022/08/31/enforced-disappearances-in-china/]

Even powerful and famous people in China are not immune to becoming victims of disappearances: 

..

More broadly, the Chinese authorities appeared to have increasingly adopted disappearances as a form of governance. In 2012, the government amended the Criminal Procedure Law to allow for the police to hold suspects in non-detention facilities for up to six months, depriving those investigated for national security crimes of access to lawyers, family members, or other detainees – a practice known as “residential surveillance in a designated location” (RSDL). The government continues to use RSDL, despite numerous UN independent experts urging its abolition because it is a form of secret detention and enforced disappearance, and therefore incompatible with China’s human rights obligations and despite countless cases of torture and other ill-treatment occurring in RSDL having been exposed. 

In 2018, the National Supervision Law created a “retention in custody” (or liuzhi) system to subject Chinese Communist Party members and public employees to incommunicado detention for up to six months for disciplinary infractions and alleged dereliction of duty, including, but not limited to, corruption. The system is run by a non-judicial, non-law enforcement body, the National Supervision Commission (NSC) and precedes formal detention and arrest. 

As humanity approaches the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), we urge the Chinese government to take seriously the fundamental principles of human rights enshrined in the UDHR.

Unconditionally and immediately free Gao Zhisheng, and all others who are victims of enforced disappearance, and pending that release, allow for Geng He and other family members as well as Gao Zhisheng’s lawyers to communicate with him through in-person visits and/or videoconferencing.

Provide other relatives of those detained or disappeared with detailed information about their status and well-being.

End the practice of enforced disappearance, which gravely impacts some of the core rights articulated in the UDHR, such as the right not to be subjected to torture, the right not to be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention, and even the right to life. 

Abolish RSDL (Articles 72-75 of the Criminal Procedure Law) and liuzhi (Article 22 of the National Supervision Law), and any other laws and regulations providing for practices tantamount to enforced disappearance.

Cosigned by, in alphabetical order:

ARTICLE 19

Campaign For Uyghurs

China Aid

China Against the Death Penalty (CADP)

Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD)

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW)

Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation

Dialogue China

European Criminal Bar Association 

FIDH – International Federation for Human Rights

Freedom House

Friends of Falun Gong (FoFG)

Front Line Defenders

Hans Gaasbeek, Coordinator of the Foundation Day of the Endangered Lawyer

Human Rights in China (HRIC)

Human Rights Now

Humanitarian China

International Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL) Monitoring Committee on Attacks on Lawyers

International Observatory for Lawyers in Danger (OIAD) 

International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)

Judicial Reform Foundation

Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada 

New School for Democracy Association

PEN America

PEN International

Safeguard Defenders

Symone Gaasbeek-Wielinga, President of the Dutch League for Human Rights

Taipei Bar Association Human Rights Committee 

Taiwan Bar Association Human Rights Protection Committee

Taiwan Support China Human Rights Lawyers Network

Tencho Gyatso, President of The International Campaign for Tibet 

Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy 

The Rights Practice

The World Uyghur Congress (WUC)

Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP)

https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/statement-report/release-human-rights-lawyer-gao-zhisheng-and-end-practice-enforced-disappearances

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Human Rights Defenders in Europe fear George Soros retreat

September 1, 2023

Philip Oltermann on 19 August 2023 reports that ΗRDs fear the billionaire’s legacy will be lost as his Open Society Foundations curbs its activities across the EU

Soros survived the Nazi occupation of his native Hungary, made a fortune on Wall Street and became one of the most steadfast backers of democracy and human rights in the eastern bloc. But human rights activists and independent media fear the legacy of billionaire philanthropist George Soros, 93, could be about to be undone in his homelands, as his donor network announced it will curb its activities across the EU from 2024.

Several beneficiaries of Soros’s Open Society Foundations (OSF), chaired since the start of this year by his son Alex, told the Observer they would struggle without its support amid an authoritarian rollback.

“When the Open Society Foundations left Budapest under severe political pressure in 2018, they said they would lose their physical presence but not their focus on the region,” said Márta Pardavi, co-chair of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a Budapest human rights NGO supported by the foundations. But she added: “Has there really been such a positive shift in Europe over the last five years that that promise has become less relevant?”

In a July email to staff, the OSF management announced a “radical redesign to help us deliver more effectively on our mission”. “Ultimately, the new approved strategic direction provides for withdrawal and termination of large parts of our current work within the European Union, shifting our focus and allocation of resources to other parts of the world,” it said.

While 40% of the charity’s global staff will be laid off, cuts will be severest in Europe, with the 180 headcount at its Berlin headquarters cut by 80%. Staff remaining in the German capital will mainly administer the foundation’s funds in Switzerland.

Its Brussels offices will be downsized, while a branch in Barcelona will be closed by the end of the year. Of an erstwhile seven branches in the post-Soviet area only three remain in Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Moldova.

Many European NGOs, think tanks and research groups working on issues ranging from media freedom and migrants’ rights to state surveillance and digital regulation rely on the foundations, which spent $1.5bn on philanthropic causes in 2021.

As traditional European media outlets have struggled to live up to their role amid a drop in advertising revenue, OSF has stepped in to support independent news projects including the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism and Forbidden Stories, an encrypted online platform that allows threatened journalists to securely upload their work and be continued by others.

Alex Soros, who grew up and was educated in the US, said: “The Open Society Foundations is changing the way we work, but my family and OSF have long supported, and remain steadfastly committed to the European project.”

The foundations say they will continue support for European Roma communities. Even critical employees expressed confidence the foundations could commit more to longer-term projects, just fewer of them.

Yet while a profound change to the structure of the organisation has long been signalled by Soros senior, the decision to achieve this via drastically reducing its headcount seems to have only emerged has been a priority under its new board of directors. Once jokingly referred to by employees as Soros’s “reading group”, the board has been slimmed down to a tighter unit dominated by family members since the baton was passed to Soros junior.

“The OSF is one of the few bodies that hand out unrestricted core funding,” said one grantee, who asked to remain anonymous amid uncertainty over the foundation’s future strategy. “It’s what keeps the light on for human rights defenders in Europe.”

Berlin has been the hub of the foundations’ European operations after the 2018 closure of the Budapest branch under pressure from the government of strongman Viktor Orbán, once a recipient of Soros’s support.

Last week the Hungarian prime minister’s political director Balázs Orbán (no relation) posted a message on social network X, formerly known as Twitter, in which he called the Open Society Foundation “the Soros empire”. “We only truly believe that the occupying troops are leaving the continent when the last Soros soldier has left Europe and Hungary,” he said.

“If you invest in democracy, you can never expect it to yield quick returns,” Márta Pardavi said. “The need for democracy-building never really goes away. And I think George Soros knew that.”

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/aug/19/george-soross-retreat-from-europe-could-turn-off-the-lights-for-human-rights

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Documentary “Silence of Reason” wins human rights award at Sarajevo Film Festival 2023

August 29, 2023

For the Hollywood Reporter, Eliza Whitfield on 19 August 2023 gives the result of the Sarajevo Film Festival 2023:

……Macedonian filmmaker Kumjana Novakova won the human rights award, given to the film in the Sarajevo competition that best addresses human rights issues, for her documentary Silence of Reason, which used the archives of the international court of human rights in the Hague to explore how violence against women was used as a weapon of war in the Bosnian War.

Nvoakova took part in the public discussion held in Sarajevo on Thursday into the artistic and media representations of violence against women. The discussion was held on a day of national mourning across Bosnia and Herzegovina called in response to a shocking triple-murder suicide in the northeastern Bosnian town of Gradacac last week, in which a man live-streamed the murder of his ex-wife. The Sarajevo festival suspended its regular programming, with the public discussion as the only event of the day.

As part of the festival, a public discussion was held in Sarajevo to examine the artistic and media representations of violence against women. The discussion took place on a day of national mourning in response to a tragic triple-murder suicide in the town of Gradacac. The Sarajevo festival suspended its regular programming to prioritize this important conversation.

The Hollywood Reporter announces the winners of the Sarajevo Film Festival 2023
Awards of the 29th Sarajevo Film Festival

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About the ‘Stand As My Witness’ campaign which advocates on behalf of imprisoned Human Rights Defenders Around the World

August 12, 2023

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

On 4 August 2023, Jaxx Artz in Global Citizen explains the Stand As My Witness’ campaign:

Stand As My Witness was created in response to a growing trend in which civil society actors were arrested for their human rights work. Formerly known as Civil Society Behind Bars, the initiative is one of CIVICUS’ most effective strategies when it comes to sounding the alarm about the plights faced by HRDs around the world. According to the global alliance, hostile government actors and authoritarian regimes often use flawed legal processes with little oversight in order to prosecute activists. “[There are targeted attacks] against people uncovering high-level corruption, exposing very serious human rights violations, calling for accountability, and seeking to drive change in their societies,” Mandeep Tiwana, chief programs officer at CIVICUS, told Global Citizen.

As part of the campaign’s goal to spread awareness about some of the world’s imprisoned activists, CIVICUS profiles a handful of detained HRDs on their website. In actuality, these names and cases represent just a small percentage of people who are currently in prison because of their activism, and whom CIVICUS is trying to get released.

Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, founder and president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, who was forcibly arrested by Bahraini authorities. [see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/tag/abdulhadi-alkhawaja/ and https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/4d45e316-c636-4d02-852d-7bfc2b08b78d]

As the global conditions for civic society worsen — with only 3.2% of the world’s population living in countries where civic space is considered open, according to the international global alliance CIVICUS — human rights defenders (HRDs) like al-Khawaja increasingly face the risk of government retaliation. 

“The detention of HRDs is often arbitrary and a form of reprisal for the work [they] do,” David Kode, advocacy and campaigns lead at CIVICUS, told Global Citizen. “Take al-Khawaja, for example, who has been in prison since 2011 and is serving a life sentence. Despite many advocacy efforts, the Bahraini authorities seem to be bent on ‘punishing’ him and his family for calling for democratic reforms more than a decade ago.”

Made up of civil society organizations and activists across more than 175 countries, CIVICUS has been campaigning on behalf of HRDs since its founding in 1993. As part of their work, the Stand As My Witness campaign — launched over 10 years ago — has sought to encourage investigations into unlawful imprisonments and bring global attention to cases like al-Khawaja’s.

Belarus has been restricting civic space and activists for years, with attacks increasing since the 2022 elections. [see also; https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/tag/belarus/]

How Are Human Rights Defenders Being Targeted?

CIVICUS has found that the tactics used to target HRDs are eerily similar across national borders and, over the years, the trends have only become more apparent and concerning.

“[The imprisonment of HRDS] is often preceded by stigmatization about their work, which includes branding activists as security risks. We saw this happen a lot after the [Arab Spring] in the Middle East and North Africa in 2011,” Tiwana said. “A lot of authoritarian regimes became fearful of people organizing and coming out into the streets to engage in civil society.”

To limit public support of pro-democracy movements and ostracize activists from society, government officials may twist the narrative surrounding an HRD’s arrest and accuse them of being spies for other nations. They may also invoke counter-terrorism or security legislation to pressure judges and quickly detain organizers or protestors without arrest warrants.

Take Khurram Parvez, an HRD from Northern India who was arrested in 2021 on charges of conspiracy and terrorism, for example. Parvez’s work documenting human rights violations — which include instances of disappearance, torture, and unlawful killing — in the Jammu and Kashmir region of India caught the attention of Indian authorities who wanted to silence his advocacy work.

See: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/81468931-79AA-24FF-58F7-10351638AFE3 and https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/tag/khurram-parvez/

CIVICUS currently advocates on behalf of Parvez through various strategies, such as raising concerns about his detention with the UN, holding meetings with diplomats in India, and encouraging the Human Rights Council in Geneva to put pressure on Indian officials to release him.

“We continue to raise concerns about his detention on social media, telling his story as a human rights defender and highlighting the gaps left by his detention in relation to the amazing work he does promoting human rights in Kashmir and supporting those who are forcibly disappeared in Asia,” Kode told Global Citizen. 

The private sector also plays an increasing role in silencing HRDs. Businesses may file strategic lawsuits against public participation (fittingly known as SLAPPs) against activists when their human rights work interferes with corporate profits or interests. [see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/tag/strategic-lawsuits-against-public-participation-slapps/]

In recent years, environmental activists and Indigenous land defenders have faced the brunt of the attacks as corporations file lawsuit after lawsuit restricting the right to protest, leading many activists to face house arrest, financial ruin, or imprisonment.

How Does Stand As My Witness Help Imprisoned HRDs?

Despite the myriad challenges that HRDs and civil society organizations face in their day-to-day work, CIVICUS’ Stand As My Witness campaign has been able to raise the profile of many activists who have been unjustly imprisoned.

Loujain al-Hathloul, for instance, is an HRD from Saudi Arabia who is well known for leading the campaign to legalize a woman’s right to drive. While in prison for nearly three years, al-Hathloul was subjected to severe torture from Saudi Arabian authorities, including electric shocks, flogging, and sexual assault, and denied regular access to see her family while in prison. See: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/1a6d84c0-b494-11ea-b00d-9db077762c6c

CIVICUS and other human rights organizations were able to mount an international campaign to bring attention to the years-long persecution faced by al-Hathloul and other women activists. The hashtag #FreeLoujain popped up across social media platforms, with global citizens around the world speaking up to urge Saudi Arabian authorities to release al-Hathloul.

While a national court initially sentenced al-Hathloul to five years and eight months for “conspiring against the kingdom,” she was released after 1,004 days. According to Tiwana, international pressure played a significant role in her release.

How Can Global Citizens Take Action?

The Stand As My Witness campaign relies on advocacy efforts from every part of civil society — when Global Citizens take action, for example, their voices can put an immense amount of pressure on world leaders.

“Hostile governments may have [HRDs] locked up for years, and it takes a concerted effort from relevant agencies, state actors, non-state actors, organizations, civil society, the media, and others to put enough pressure that leads to their release,” Tiwana said. “But justice often moves very slowly.”

One of the biggest challenges CIVICUS experiences with the Stand As My Witness campaign is engaging people during the life cycle of a case, which can often last several years. To fight against indifference, CIVICUS encourages Global Citizens everywhere to pay attention to the humanity of each activist who has dedicated their lives to the realization and protection of human rights.

You can get involved with the Stand As My Witness campaign by engaging with CIVICUS on social media, writing letters to government officials, and sharing information about HRDs who are not currently represented on CIVICUS’ interactive map. 

You can also demand that governments release HRDs from unjust imprisonment by taking action with Global Citizen on civic space issues.

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/stand-as-my-witness/

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Report of the High Representative of the EU: 2022 annual report on human rights

August 11, 2023

2023 will see the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and 30 years since the adoption of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action as well as the 25th Anniversary of the UN Declaration on human rights defenders [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/06/20/side-event-on-the-25th-anniversary-of-the-un-declaration-on-human-rights-defenders/].

These anniversaries come at a challenging moment says the EU in publishing the 2022 edition of its Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy in the World. (see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2022/04/20/eus-report-on-human-rights-2021/).

What is special is that the report is not a country overview but thematic, including this paragraph on HRDs:

“Assistance to human rights defenders through both political and
financial means is one of the flagship EU human rights activities,
having a direct impact on individuals, groups and organisations
defending human rights.
In 2022, human rights defenders continued to face threats and
attacks such as killings, arbitrary detention, smear campaigns or
judicial harassment. They are also increasingly victims of illegal
online surveillance, transnational repression or criminalisation due
to ill-motivated “foreign agent” or counterterrorism laws.
To counter this trend, the EU raised specific cases of human rights
defenders at risk in all its human rights dialogues, subcommittee
meetings and consultations (e.g. dialogue with Colombia or India).
The protection of human rights defenders was also discussed in EU-
supported civil society seminars preceding human rights dialogues
(e.g. EU-Brazil and EU-Mexico seminars). The EU also continued to
make its voice heard with public statements and declarations to
support human rights defenders at risk (for instance on cases in Iran,
Russia, or Mexico). Global support for human rights defenders was
voiced by The High Representative on the occasion of the World NGO
Day in February 2022 and during the 24th EU-NGO Forum on Human
Rights in December 2022.
EU Delegations and Member States’ embassies engaged and met
with human rights defenders, monitored trials, and visited human
rights defenders in detention. Annual meetings between EU
diplomats and human rights defenders have become an established
practice in non-EU countries, increasing the visibility of human rights
defenders where appropriate and allowing for in-depth analysis of
the challenges they face. Some EU Delegations provided awards to
Human Rights Defenders (for instance in Uganda).
The support and protection of human rights defenders is also
a priority for the EUSR for Human Rights. Throughout 2022,
the EUSR continued to raise individual cases of human rights
defenders, particularly those in long-term detention, and to meet
with human rights defenders, both in Brussels and during country
visits. He availed of every opportunity to express support and
solidarity directly to the defenders themselves or their families. He
raised specific cases during visits to several countries, including
India, Uganda, Pakistan, Egypt and Colombia and in other bilateral
contacts, notably with Cuba and Brazil. He also participated in a
number of high profile events aimed at raising awareness and
visibility around their work and the need for their protection, such
as the ProtectDefenders.eu beneficiary meeting in September, or
the Front Line Defenders Dublin Platform in October. The EUSR was
very active on individual cases on social media, notably regarding
Belarus. He also highlighted the situation of Palestinian prisoners on
hunger-strike and their deteriorating health conditions.
The EU remained active in multilateral fora in particular in the
United Nations Human Rights Council and the United Nations
General Assembly. The EU actively collaborated with the UN Special
Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, regularly
exchanging information on cases and thematic priorities. The EU
advocated for the recognition of human rights defenders in several
UN General Assembly resolutions. At the Human Rights Council, the
EU highlighted the critical role that human rights defenders play
in the protection and promotion of human rights and spoke out in
their defence inter alia during the interactive dialogues with several
Special Procedures.””Assistance to human rights defenders through both political and
financial means is one of the flagship EU human rights activities,
having a direct impact on individuals, groups and organisations
defending human rights.
In 2022, human rights defenders continued to face threats and
attacks such as killings, arbitrary detention, smear campaigns or
judicial harassment. They are also increasingly victims of illegal
online surveillance, transnational repression or criminalisation due
to ill-motivated “foreign agent” or counterterrorism laws.
To counter this trend, the EU raised specific cases of human rights
defenders at risk in all its human rights dialogues, subcommittee
meetings and consultations (e.g. dialogue with Colombia or India).
The protection of human rights defenders was also discussed in EU-
supported civil society seminars preceding human rights dialogues
(e.g. EU-Brazil and EU-Mexico seminars). The EU also continued to
make its voice heard with public statements and declarations to
support human rights defenders at risk (for instance on cases in Iran,
Russia, or Mexico). Global support for human rights defenders was
voiced by The High Representative on the occasion of the World NGO
Day in February 2022 and during the 24th EU-NGO Forum on Human
Rights in December 2022.
EU Delegations and Member States’ embassies engaged and met
with human rights defenders, monitored trials, and visited human
rights defenders in detention. Annual meetings between EU
diplomats and human rights defenders have become an established
practice in non-EU countries, increasing the visibility of human rights
defenders where appropriate and allowing for in-depth analysis of
the challenges they face. Some EU Delegations provided awards to
Human Rights Defenders (for instance in Uganda).
The support and protection of human rights defenders is also
a priority for the EUSR for Human Rights. Throughout 2022,
the EUSR continued to raise individual cases of human rights
defenders, particularly those in long-term detention, and to meet
with human rights defenders, both in Brussels and during country
visits. He availed of every opportunity to express support and
solidarity directly to the defenders themselves or their families. He
raised specific cases during visits to several countries, including
India, Uganda, Pakistan, Egypt and Colombia and in other bilateral
contacts, notably with Cuba and Brazil. He also participated in a
number of high profile events aimed at raising awareness and
visibility around their work and the need for their protection, such
as the ProtectDefenders.eu beneficiary meeting in September, or
the Front Line Defenders Dublin Platform in October. The EUSR was
very active on individual cases on social media, notably regarding
Belarus. He also highlighted the situation of Palestinian prisoners on
hunger-strike and their deteriorating health conditions.
The EU remained active in multilateral fora in particular in the
United Nations Human Rights Council and the United Nations
General Assembly. The EU actively collaborated with the UN Special
Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, regularly
exchanging information on cases and thematic priorities. The EU
advocated for the recognition of human rights defenders in several
UN General Assembly resolutions. At the Human Rights Council, the
EU highlighted the critical role that human rights defenders play
in the protection and promotion of human rights and spoke out in
their defence inter alia during the interactive dialogues with several
Special Procedures.“

Other sections specially relevant for HRDs include:

The death penalty…………………………………………………………………………………………….page.21
Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 24
Freedom of religion or belief ………………………………………………………………………..33
Human rights of persons belonging to minorities………………………………. 38
Gender equality ………………………………………………………………………………………………..40
LGBTI ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..50
Migration and mobility – migrants, refugees and asylum seekers ..59
Empowering women ……………………………………………………………………………………….62
Rights of indigenous peoples …………………………………………………………….. 75
Freedom of expression ………………………………………………………………………..78
Safety and protection of journalists…………………………………………………. 80
Countering disinformation, hate speech, extremist and terrorist
content………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 81
Academic freedom and protection of the academic community at
risk…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 84
Labour rights ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 90

Support to Human Rights Defenders in the Digital Sphere ……………..175

Click to access E-version%202022%20Annual%20Report%20on%20Human%20Rights%20and%20Democracy%20in%20the%20World%20-%20Report%20by%20the%20High%20Representative.pdf

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Winners of 2023 UN Human Rights Prize Announced

July 22, 2023
Julienne Lusenge, one of the 2023 UN Human Rights Prize winners speaking at the General Assembly high-level dialogue on “Building Sustainable Peace for All” earlier this year.

Julienne Lusenge, one of the 2023 UN Human Rights Prize winners, speaking at the General Assembly high-level dialogue on “Building Sustainable Peace for All” earlier this year. UN Photo/Manuel Elías

On 20 July 2023 the President of the General Assembly Csaba Kőrösi announced the winners of the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights for 2023. 

For more on this prize which is awarded every five see: https://trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/74A3B502-F3DF-4DDB-8D6F-672C03B4A008

This year’s winners were the Human Rights Center “Viasna”, based in Belarus, Julienne Lusenge from the Democratic Republic of the Congo [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2021/10/11/congolese-julienne-lusenge-wins-1-million-2021-aurora-prize/], Amman Center for Human Rights Studies from Jordan, Julio Pereyra from Uruguay and the Global Coalition of civil society organizations, Indigenous Peoples, social movements and local communities.

The recipients of the Prize were chosen by a Special Committee from more than 400 nominations received from Member States, the UN system, and civil society. 

The Committee is chaired by the President of the General Assembly, and its members include the President of the Economic and Social Council, the President of the Human Rights Council, the Chair of the Commission on the Status of Women, and the Chair of the Advisory Committee of the Human Rights Council. 

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) provided support to the special committee.  The award ceremony for the 2023 Prize will take place at UN Headquarters in New York in December 2023, as part of activities to commemorate Human Rights Day. 

The members of the Special Committee also acknowledged the important role played by human rights defenders and activists, praising them for their courage and dedication while strongly condemning any attempts to “silence and intimidate” them.

They expressed solidarity with those who are detained in retaliation for their work in defending human rights and pursuing the implementation of all the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, marking it’s 75th birthday this year.

https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/07/1138957

https://www.ohchr.org/en/about-us/what-we-do/un-human-rights-prize/2023-recipients

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Ukrainian woman human rights defender and writer Viktoria Amelina killed in Russian missile strike on Kramatorsk

July 20, 2023

On 1 July 2023, woman human rights defender and author Viktoria Amelina died in hospital in Dnipro, Ukraine after sustaining fatal injuries during the Russian missile attack on Kramatorsk, Ukraine on 27 June 2023. PEN Ukraine reported the death of the woman human rights defender on 3 July 2023 with the consent of her relatives. Viktoria is survived by her husband and 10-year old son.

Viktoria Amelina was a woman human rights defender and writer. In June 2022, after the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, she joined the Ukrainian human rights organisation Truth Hounds to document war crimes. She had been documenting apparent Russian war crimes in the liberated territories of eastern, southern and northern Ukraine, and particularly the village of Kapytolivka in Kharkiv region. During one of her missions, Viktoria Amelina discovered a diary of Volodymyr Vakulenko, a Ukrainian writer who was abducted and killed by the Russian military. She was also working on a non-fiction project “War and Justice Diary: Looking at Women Looking at War”, a research project about the Ukrainian women human rights defenders documenting and investigating war crimes committed by the Russian military. Before joining Truth Hounds, Viktoria Amelina actively campaigned for the liberation of Oleh Sentsov, a Ukrainian film director from Crimea who was a political prisoner of the Russian authorities from 2014 to 2019.

Viktoria Amelina won the Joseph Conrad Literature Prize for her prose works, including the novels Dom’s Dream Kingdom and Fall Syndrome, and was a finalist for the European Union Prize for Literature. In 2021, she founded the New York book festival in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, where New York refers to a village in Donetsk that is very close to the military frontline.

On 27 June 2023, the woman human rights defender Viktoria Amelina was in Kramatorsk, in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, accompanying a delegation of Colombian writers and journalists who represented #AguantaUcrania, a group that raises awareness about Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in Latin America. Before coming to Kramatorsk, the group took part in a prominent Ukraninan literary fair “Book Arsenal.” They all arrived to Kramatorsk to document the situation in Ukrainian cities in the Donetsk region to support the visibility work of #AguantaUcrania.

On the evening of 27 June 2023, the group was having dinner in the Ria Lounge restaurant in Kramatorsk, when a Russian missile hit the building in which the restaurant was located. This missile killed 13 civilians and injured a further 60. As a result of the missile strike, Viktoria Amelina suffered a severe head injury and was hospitalised in Kramatorsk, before being transferred to the hospital in Dnipro. The woman human rights defender died in the hospital in Dnipro three days later, on 1 June 2023.

Truth Hounds and PEN Ukraine reported that, in the aftermath of the attack, Russian state propaganda media falsely claimed that the target of the missile was the temporary headquarters of one of the Ukrainian Armed Forces brigades. In reality, the Ria Lounge restaurant in Kramatorsk was one of the most popular restaurants in the city and was frequented by Ukrainian and international human rights and civil society actors, humanitarian volunteers, and media and film crews. Truth Hounds and PEN Ukraine’s report stated that there were no military objectives that the Russian military could have have been targetting with a missile attack that day. Together, the human rights organisations made a public statement concerning the strike, stating that the precision of the Iskander missiles leads them to believe that the missile strike was an attack against the civilian population.

In light of the death of the woman human rights defender Viktoria Amelina, Front Line Defenders once again reiterates its grave concern about the killings of Ukrainian human rights defenders, civil society activists, humanitarian volunteers and other community leaders as a result of Russia’s full-scale invasion in Ukraine. According to Front Line Defenders’ HRD Memorial, at least 50 human rights defenders were killed in Ukraine in 2022, including humanitarian actors and human rights journalists, as a result of the activities of the Russian military forces.

Front Line Defenders strongly condemns the killing of the woman human rights defender Viktoria Amelina and urges the authorities of the Russian Federation to cease targeting civilian objects in accordance with Russia’s international humanitarian and human rights law obligations, recalling that the deliberate targeting of civilians is prohibited under the Fourth Geneva Convention. The attack on the Ria Lounge restaurant may qualify as a war crime pursuant to Article 8(2)(b)(ii) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) – “intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects.” Alternatively, such an attack may be qualified under Article 8(2)(b)(i) – “intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population”; or Article 8(2)(b)(iii) – “intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance […] mission.” Front Line Defenders calls for an impartial and independent investigation into the killing of human rights defender Viktoria Amelina while she was on mission conducting her human rights work. All those involved in the commission of this crime must be brought to justice.

https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/statement-report/ukrainian-woman-human-rights-defender-and-writer-viktoria-amelina-killed-russian

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13-year old HRD from Colombia cares for climate

July 19, 2023

Francisco Vera, is 13 years old and he has been advocating for human rights and climate justice since he was 9 years old.

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